


Thinly Disguised Excuse to Write a Kid Fic

by Annamaetion



Category: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: Comedy, Gen, Kid Fic, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-28 03:03:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 22,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21129698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annamaetion/pseuds/Annamaetion
Summary: When Dr. Bellum zaps Team Carmen with a de-aging ray... I’m going to level with y’all, this is just so I can write cute kid shenanigans and have primo Shadowsan as what the fandom has dubbed; Dadosan. Finished Work





	1. Chapter 1

Shadowsan reflected grimly over the last few hours. 

In retrospect, the signs were there— that the recent VILE operation was actually an obvious trap. Too easy. Shadowsan cursed himself on his complacency. 

Dr. Bellum had managed to spring a rather fiendish trap; zapping Carmen, Ivy, and Zach with some sort of ray.

At first, it seemed like all the ray did was make them lethargic, and they had managed to escape capture by the skin of their teeth.

They made it out of the building and Shadowsan took on Zach’s usual role of get-away driver as he beat their hasty retreat.

After he could be reasonably sure he’d shaken any tail they may have set upon them, Shadowsan headed to the airport where a private jet waited for them in a hanger, at the behest of Player.

Once again, he reflected on just how efficient Player was in coordinating all their transportation so efficiently, and on such short notice.

Shadowsan managed to wrangle the drowsy team onto the plane and breathed out slowly he observed them all fall asleep almost as soon as they were strapped into their seats.

He allowed himself a quiet sigh of relief. 

Player looked on from the laptop camera with concern, “Are they going to be alright?” he asked tentatively, “Whatever Dr. Bellum’s hit them with, it has them down for the count.”

Shadowsan closed his eyes, the team seemed alright… was it too much to hope that Dr. Bellum’s ray was simply some sort of sleeping ray?

Probably not though. Dr. Bellum, in his experience, didn’t make a ray just for it to have such a tame effect.

Perhaps, he imagined, whatever the ray’s intended effects, it had ultimately malfunctioned and therefore was rendered harmless.

“Shadowsan?”

Right. Player was still waiting for a response.

“We’ll have to keep them under careful observation,” Shadowsan considered Carmen and her sleeping team. “and hope that lethargy is the worst of this ray’s effects.”

Shadowsan opened his eyes, still feeling a bit off-kilter with the amount of worry he had seemingly building beneath his skin. 

They would be fine.

They had to be.

Shadowsan didn’t know what he would do if they were irreparably harmed in some unseen fashion.

He wished he’d gotten a better look at Dr. Bellum’s ray… she’d shown him many an invention over the years; though knowing her, she’d probably managed to build any number of strange devices in the short period of time since his defection from VILE.

It wasn’t worth the effort speculating. Only time would tell the outcome ultimately.

Player’s voice gently broke him out of his own thoughts and speculations, “ETA to the airport is half an hour. Weather’s fair, and I’ve already arranged for a rental car to take you all from the airport to HQ.”

“Thank you.” Shadowsan said simply, reflecting on the rather regretful fact that this is the first time he remembers thanking Player. 

He made a note to say it more often. It wasn’t as if the boy hadn’t given him plenty of opportunities to be grateful.

Shadowsan watched Carmen and her team sleep, they at least looked to be resting peacefully. A small mercy.

They hadn’t gotten much quality rest as of late, and Shadowsan knew that whatever down-time he implemented upon them for recovery from the ray’s effects would probably be ignored.

Shadowsan sighed, he would be lucky if Carmen even took a week off of downtime from pursuing VILE.

She looked so much younger when she slept, and Shadowsan couldn’t help but picture little Carmen growing up on the island...so distant from the harsh reality of the outside world. 

Zach and Ivy were still a bit of a mystery to him, though he now knew how they had joined Carmen’s crew, he knew surprisingly little else. 

Of course he hadn’t asked, but he had wondered about their childhood. Though a part of him suspected, since he knew that they were now the only family that the other had, that the story would be a sad one.

Shadowsan barely managed to wake them long enough to get them out of the plane and settled into the rental car. It would seem that the lethargy hadn’t worn off during the two hour flight to HQ, but Shadowsan fought off his worry.

Surely they would all be hale and hearty after a goodnight rest. 

Shadowsan observed the sun set over the horizon as he pulled into the garage built into the side of the formerly defunct warehouse.

Perhaps, he thought, perhaps all would be set right by the morning.

— — — —

If he hadn’t seen the transformation happen before his very eyes...well, he supposed he would have believed it occurred either way. 

He had set them all up on couches in the common room in order to be better able to monitor them. 

After a couple hours of inactivity, his erstwhile charges had started glowing. 

Then shifting.

Shrinking.

He had the physical evidence plainly in front of him after all.

Carmen, seemingly the very image of a young Black Sheep. Looking just like she did at about age five.

Shadowsan didn’t have the same point of reference for Zach or Ivy, but they both looked around that same age.

Had this been the ray’s intended effect, albeit delayed? Shadowsan certainly wouldn’t put it past Dr. Bellum, thinking that her adversaries would be a lot more easily dealt with as children…

That, and the ray’s initial side-effect of putting the victims to sleep would render pretty much any opponent completely helpless.

What could he do, in the face of all this? He certainly couldn’t face off solo against VILE while team Carmen were not old enough to leave without supervision. Shadowsan wouldn’t trust the discretion of just any old babysitter.

Also a run-of-the mill civilian probably wouldn’t be able to handle Black Sheep’s mischief. To say nothing of the two other children.

They looked almost angelic while asleep, but that didn’t stop Shadowsan worrying over the possibilities of what they’d be like upon waking.

At least if their memories matched their physical states, Black Sheep would probably recognize him.

He didn’t have any idea how Zach or Ivy would react to him upon waking.

Player, though stunned, had taken a few pictures with the red drone hovering around to take many different angles. 

His voice had sounded fragile, like anything said above a whisper would shatter the illusion… or perhaps he was just afraid of waking them. 

“Pics or it didn’t happen.” Player said nonsensically, “There’s no way I can let this go undocumented.”

Shadowsan was glad for the reminder that he wasn’t alone in this, for all that Player might be in his room in Ontario, he would certainly happily provide any support that he could.

Player chuckled, “I’m finally not the youngest member of Team Carmen.”

Shadowsan brought the laptop to the adjacent room, mindful of the noise. “Yes, well. If there’s anything you can discern from VILE chatter or the hard drive—or just anywhere; about how long we can expect the ray’s effects to last, you will let me know?”

Immediately the background noise filtering from Player’s end of the video call was filled with a torrent of keyboard clatter and mouse clicks.

Player’s voice was determined, glad to focus on trying to find everything he possibly could, “I’ve got all the usual scanning algorithms working in concert with a specific inquiry about anything that mentions de-aging, rays, or Dr. Bellum.”

Shadowsan nodded, “Also, since we don’t know how long they will remain children, you should also order some supplies like clothing,” luckily the clothing they had worn to the mission had shrunk with them, otherwise they would have been swimming in their clothing. “We can always donate the clothing when we no longer require it.”

Player nodded an affirmative, “Yeah, that and some kid size toiletries and probably some toys too just in case.”

“Whatever you deem necessary,” Shadowsan readily agreed, “I trust you have a good idea of what they might need at the age they are currently.”

“My only qualification for knowing how to take care of a child is that I used to be one.” Player jokes, “But don’t worry, the internet can help fill in the gaps.”

Suddenly, Shadowsan heard shuffling from the common room, accompanied by a yawn.


	2. Chapter 2

If ever his heart had skipped a beat in his life, it would definitely have been like now.

Little Carmen was stretching and looking very much like she had woken up.

Shadowsan walked quickly to her side, carefully, he whispered, “Black Sheep?”

Black Sheep cast her gaze up with a sleepy smile that slowly shifted to confusion, but not without a little wonder and curiosity. 

“Shadowsan? Is that you? Why do you look so old?”

Ever the font of questions. Shadowsan let out a relieved breath, at least she recognized him.

“There was an incident with an invention of Dr. Bellum’s. A ray that affects age.” It was technically true, though certainly not in the way he was implying. Carmen...or he supposed, Black Sheep, had been used to Dr. Bellum’s strange inventions and their possibilities even at an early age.

Black Sheep cast her glance around, “Where are we? Whoa, other kids! Where did they come from? Did they get founded by the side of the road in Argentina too? Who are they?” She takes a breath and notices his laptop, “Oh, who are you?”

Shadowsan had left the video chat running, and Player hadn’t hung up on his end. Player offered a stunned wave, “I’m a friend, my name is Player.”

“Nice to meet you too, my name’s Black Sheep! This is the most kids I’ve seen in person ever! I’ve only seen kids in books before now!”

Shadowsan shushed Black Sheep gently, Ivy had been beginning to stir. “One question at a time, and quietly, the other children are still—having a nap.”

Black Sheep settled a little, but she was still visibly excited, “Well, who are the other kids?”

Shadowsan gestured towards them both in turn. “She is named Ivy, and he is named Zach.” He said quietly, “They’re going to probably be very confused when they wake up, please help them know I mean them no harm.”

Black Sheep nodded seriously, for all that she still had a wide grin on her face. She was clearly impatient to meet these other children, if she didn’t even wonder why they might be confused upon waking.

Ivy wriggled slowly in her sleep, suddenly stretching and yawning loudly. She opened her eyes and immediately began surveying her unfamiliar surroundings.

She seemed relieved when she spotted Zach still sleeping peacefully on the couch next to her.

Her green eyes locked in a steady gaze as she finally spotted Shadowsan and Black Sheep.

She narrowed her eyes at Shadowsan, “Last foster finally got fed up with us huh? Figures. It was only a matter of time.” She crossed her arms defiantly, “Where are we now?”

Shadowsan’s heart ached at the fact that such a young child would be so used to being shuffled through different foster homes; even to the point of being unsurprised that she woke up in a completely different place than where she might remember falling asleep.

Black Sheep tugged at his sleeve, “Yeah Shadowsan, where are we? This doesn’t look like any of the buildings on the island.”

Thankfully, Ivy interrupted with another question, “What sort of name is Shadowsan?” She wrinkled her nose, “I’ve never heard it before. It sounds weird.” 

Shadowsan took a calming breath, “That’s probably because my name is Japanese.”

“Oh. Okay?” She considered Black Sheep, “What’s your name?”

Black Sheep giggled, “My name is Black Sheep.”

Ivy laughed, and the sound woke up Zach.

Zach gave the room the same sort of sweeping glance that his sister had, finally resting his sleepy gaze on his sister.

“What’s so funny?”

Ivy laughed harder, “She says her name is Black Sheep!” She says, pointing at Black Sheep, “I mean what sort of name is Black Sheep?!”

Black Sheep stomped her foot, “It’s my name,” she pouted, “Why is that so funny?”

Zach turned to Black Sheep, “We’ve never heard of someone being named Black Sheep before. He explained, “It’s nice to meet you Black Sheep, my name’s Zach!”

Ivy finally ceased her laugher, though her amusement was still plainly on her face.

“My name’s Ivy. Sorry I laughed at your name, it was just a surprise—that’s all.”

Black Sheep huffed, but her annoyance was short lived, “That’s okay. It is still nice to meet you.”

Zach’s stomach gurgled, he grimaced.

“Ivy,” he said, nearly whispering, “I’m hungry.”

Black Sheep perked up at this, “Oh yeah, I’m hungry too.” She looked back towards Shadowsan, “Is it going to be time to eat soon?”

“Yes, I’ll go to prepare something…” Shadowsan reflected that it would probably be easier if there weren't three children milling around the kitchen while he tried to prepare breakfast.

He glanced at Player, “Player, would you please keep an eye on them while I go to get something from the kitchen?”

Player agreed tentatively, “Yeah, sure. Just hurry back.”

He left the room to the sound of Ivy loudly asking, “Your name is Player?”

— — — — — —

When Shadowsan returned to the common room he was pleasantly surprised to see all three children sitting across from the laptop, absolutely riveted by something Player was telling them.

He set the plates of bacon and eggs up on the table as he faintly overheard what had the children’s undivided attention.

“...And then Carmen Sandiego, alongside the help from her team, managed to steal back the money and save the day!”

The children all cheered with excitement, clearly pleased with how the story ended.

Zach loudly exclaimed, “She’s just like Robin Hood!”

Ivy elbowed Zach, “She’s even better than Robin Hood!”

Black Sheep seemed particularly enthralled, she turned to see Shadowsan and exclaimed, “Shadowsan, I wanna be just like Carmen when I grow up!”

Shadowsan smiled softly, it was all he could do to not begin to tear up. “You can do anything you set your mind to Black Sheep.” He gestured to the table, “Now, breakfast is ready. Come sit at the table and eat.”

Black Sheep turned to Ivy and Zach, “Race ya to the table!”

After some scrambling, they were all sat around the table, Black Sheep and Zach both immediately dove in. 

Ivy peered at her eggs and seemed to examine them closely before she started eating. 

It made sense that Ivy was still wary, being in an unfamiliar location and surrounded by strangers. 

Zach didn’t seem to be overly bothered, or at least as far as his appetite went. Which, seeing as adult Zach was seemingly a bottomless hole for food, it shouldn’t have been a surprise. He finished his breakfast first and then excused himself from the table to run back to the laptop to declare himself ready for another story.

Ivy rapidly finished eating after Zach and went to follow him, seemingly unwilling to let him out of her sight.

Black Sheep looked on in disbelief, “They didn’t ask to be excused from the table, Countess Cleo would’ve had a fit!”

Shadowsan allowed himself a small smile in agreement, “Indeed, good thing she isn’t here.”

“Yeah,” Black Sheep enthused, “She would hate their table manners!”

“Are you finished eating?” Shadowsan said, observing Black Sheep’s empty plate.

“Yes, may I please be excused?”

At Shadowsan’s nod, Black Sheep practically rocketed off to join Zach and Ivy in listening to another story.

Shadowsan quickly washed the dishes. Knowing from experience that children, especially around the age that the team had turned into, wouldn’t be entertained by just stories in perpetuity.

It gave him the opportunity to think about what sort of games and activities Black Sheep had liked to partake in on the island, and how that might include different things now that she finally had other children her age to play with.

A soft pang of regret struck him with that thought. Black Sheep’s upbringing truly seemed negligent in hindsight.

Shadowsan emerged from the kitchen to the sight of Black Sheep pulling Ivy and Zach into acting out a scene from the story they’d just been told, “It’ll be fun!” She declares, “Wanna give it a try?”

Ivy laughed at Black Sheep’s antics, “Alright, alright, you talked me into it!” She slapped the air between her and Black Sheep playfully, “I guess I’ll be the mechanic, she sounds cool.”

Zach was grinning wide, “I call get away driver!”

Black Sheep clapped excitedly, “Yay, okay I’m gonna play Carmen!” she hurried up to Shadowsan and declared brightly, “You can play the bad guy that turns into a good guy!”

Shadowsan would have laughed, had he been the sort more inclined to show his emotions, as it was he allowed a slight display of amusement. “Very well, so how do we start?”


	3. Chapter 3

The re-enactment of their first ever caper together was both bizarre and endearing.

It was bizarre in the way it was like an out of body experience. 

Playing through the role he had actually partaken in that fateful night made him realize just how quickly the team had allowed him to integrate himself into their efforts.

It was endearing in the fact that the team, even as children who just met, got along so readily.

Sure, it helped that Zach and Ivy were brother and sister—so of course they were already familiar with the other— but Black Sheep, who was of course inexperienced with playing with other children, took quickly to try to find ways to keep her new companions and herself entertained.

Shadowsan found that he hadn’t yet had to think up an activity to keep the children distracted, his role was mostly a supervisory one.

He wondered how long that would last before the questions as to their precise location occurred to them.

What would Ivy or Zach make of the fact that they were no longer in Boston? How would he handle the kids if they got it into their heads that they wanted to play outside?

The children were blissfully unaware of the questions rolling around in his head. 

Black Sheep was too taken with her new playmates to wonder again as to why she wasn’t on the island currently.

Both Ivy and Zach just sort of shrugged the unfamiliar surroundings off, already seemingly so used to being shuffled around various foster situations to the point that even waking up in a strange place wasn’t overly disconcerting.

They paused their playing long enough to eat lunch, a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich with carrot sticks and ranch on the side, which Shadowsan was pleased to see Ivy eat without as much suspicion as she had regarded breakfast with, and they chatted happily over the table about what game they should play next.

Zach, at one point wondered aloud if they could maybe watch a movie, and suddenly all the kids decided that a movie was exactly what they wanted as well.

Player used the red drone to project images onto a blank wall, which gave all the effects of going to the movies in a theater without the hassle. As the kids were enthralled by a cartoon fox Robin Hood, Shadowsan slipped into his room, taking the laptop with him.

“Have you found anything yet?” Shadowsan asked quietly. 

Player sighed sadly, “Anything on the hard drives that even alludes to Dr. Bellum inventions doesn’t go into much detail, just references them existing.” 

His fingers flew over the keyboard, “I’d imagine the actual details of what the inventions did or how they worked were probably stored on isolated island drives that weren’t connected to the main systems.”

Not too familiar with the technical aspects of VILE, Shadowsan could only nod, “It would be in- character for Dr. Bellum to keep the actual blueprints to herself.” He reasoned, “What about VILE chatter, is there anything on that front?”

“Y’know that saying; no news is good news? Well, the chatter is uncharacteristically quiet… like as in basically radio silence, and that’s concerning.”

“Indeed, that is most concerning.” Shadowsan felt a sense of dread in the not knowing, “Either they have finally caught on that someone is listening in—which is possible considering the last operation was a trap—or they’re plotting something big.”

Player shuddered, “I don’t like our options here. Like, even if we do uncover whatever they’re planning...how are we meant to stop them exactly?”

The thought of how they were meant to combat VILE had occurred to him as well. He had only managed to conclude that they would have to put their campaign against VILE on hold for the time being.

“Until the team return to normal, we unfortunately can only hope that ACME is enough to curtail their efforts for now.” 

“Yeah, I’ll try my best to poke ACME in the right direction whenever I get a stronger indication of whatever they’re planning.” He sighed and leaned back, “On an unrelated note, the supplies I ordered have arrived to drop point Delta. If you hurry you can slip out and get there and back before the movie is over.”

“Thank you.” Shadowsan acknowledged gratefully, “I shall go to retrieve them now.” Shadowsan hung up the video call and went to quietly pick up whatever children supplies that Player had ordered.

— — — — — —

Shadowsan brought the package back right as the movie was wrapping up, he managed to slip in without being noticed as a matter of course, so the children had no idea he had ever been away.

He allowed himself a small smile at the stuffed plushies that Player had acquired for each child.

A little black sheep, a red car, and an overly large grey shark.

A note supplied from Player indicated that Ivy had mentioned she had always wanted a huge shark stuffed animal when they had managed to have a brief downtime to visit a county fair, and that he had guessed at the other ones.

He set up the clothing and toys in the appropriate rooms and then went to join the children. They were talking excitedly over the credits of the Robin Hood movie, Zach was especially enthused.

Zach mimed aiming a bow and arrow, “I wanna be an archer, I mean that— or a ninja!”

Ivy grinned, “You could be a ninja that’s also an archer! I’m sure they use bows too.”

Black Sheep looked thoughtful , “Well Shadowsan is from Japan, that’s where ninja and samurai come from, he would know!”

Shadowsan interjected himself into the conversation, “Indeed, and there were in fact both ninja and samurai both skilled in the long-bow and later on, the crossbow.”

Zach’s eyes were wide, “Wow, that’s awesome, I guess I could do both!”

Black Sheep nodded, “You definitely could if you practiced a ton!”

It was no surprise that the next suggested game involved them pretending to be ninjas under the careful supervision of Shadowsan as their ‘ninja instructor’ on the suggestion of Black Sheep.

They were happily distracted with this new game of theirs until it was time for dinner.

Player helped keep the children occupied with another story until he had managed to prepare a dinner of macaroni and cheese sprinkled with bacon scraps, with a side of garlic bread.

It was really lucky that he already knew a few of the kids’ food preferences and food sensitivities, Shadowsan reflected. For example, Zach would be spared being served anything involving the dreaded ingredient of fish.

The children ate contentedly, clearly very much enjoying the meal. Shadowsan allowed himself a small smile, it was really...nice to see them like this.

They were seemingly without a care, certainly they were blissfully unaware of their adult worries at least. How long could the peace last though? They surely couldn’t go on like this forever?

He was snapped out of his reverie, with Black Sheep calmly asking if she could be excused from the table.

The children were all much more sedate, now that they were at the end of a long day, and with full bellies.

It was easy enough to find an educational cartoon to pass the time from dinner to what he approximated was probably their usual bed time.

He wondered briefly if Zach and Ivy’s circadian rhythms would still be on Boston time, or if the de-aging ray had reset that as well.

In the end there wasn’t really any way to tell, and he supposed it wouldn’t matter, the team had traveled through many a time zone the weeks previous—even Shadowsan couldn’t say he had any idea what his internal clock might think the time was.

As it was, they started yawning as the cartoon ended, so Shadowsan began to ready them for bed.

Zach seemed surprised that he would have his own room, apparently used to having to share a room with his sister.

Ivy was wary at first, not liking the idea of sleeping so far away from Zach, but seemed mollified when she discovered her room would be right across the hallway from Zach’s. 

It also didn’t hurt that she absolutely loved the very large stuffed shark, that was nearly bigger than she was. 

Black Sheep was reduced to sleepy giggles as she found and hugged her black sheep plushie close, “I’m going to name her Lambkins, like Coach Brunt’s always calling me!”

Ivy laughed, “I’m going to name my shark...uh Lydia, yeah I like that name!”

Zack pretended to drive the stuffed car around him in a circle, “Vroom, vroom!” He laughed happily, “I’m naming this car Vroom vroom!”

Shadowsan felt a smile spread across his face, almost completely unbidden. The team really were quite endearing as children. A small part of Shadowsan might almost miss this when the team gets turned back to normal.

Black Sheep looked up at Shadowsan with large puppy dog eyes, “Tuck me in Shadowsan?”

“Of course.”


	4. Chapter 4

It was 1:00 AM when Shadowsan woke to some shuffling in his room, he jolted awake and was immediately on high alert.

His door was open and at the foot of his bed stood Black Sheep, clutching her plush animal tightly to her chest, she had obviously been crying and looked very upset.

She sniffled miserably, “I had a bad dream.”

Shadowsan got out of his bed and offered Black Sheep a comforting hug, but at her slight flinch he backed away, “What is wrong Black Sheep?”

She averted her eyes, which were now brimming with new tears, “In the dream Coach Brunt started hugging me, and then she started squeezing too hard—I told her to stop but she just kept hugging harder until I had trouble breathing!”

Shadowsan blinked in surprise, it would seem that some memory of Coach Brunt’s attempt to kill her had somehow filtered into her nightmare. He tried his best to look comforting, “It’s alright Black Sheep, nobody is going to hurt you here.”

She half-heartedly nodded, “I don’t think I can get back to sleep, I’m too scared I’ll have another bad dream.”

Shadowsan tutted softly, “Well, you need your rest little Black Sheep, otherwise you’ll be tired tomorrow.”

Black Sheep’s face was the very picture of misery, “Can...can I sleep here, with you?” She wiped her tears with her sleeve, “That way the bad dreams can’t get me, cause you’ll scare them off.”

Shadowsan dimly remembered that Black Sheep had woken on similar occasions from nightmares and sought comfort—from Coach Brunt… he remembers that she caved more often than not, and that Black Sheep eventually grew out of her childhood night terrors.

Although, this wasn’t a typical night terror from the sounds of it, and it had probably been very traumatic. 

There was only one course of action.

Shadowsan nodded, “Very well.” He said simply, not trusting his voice to say anything further. Black Sheep’s tentative smile was more than worth any slight inconvenience.

Before he could settle Black Sheep and himself, there was more shuffling out in the hallway and a cautious Ivy peeked her head around the door, “Is everything alright? I heard crying.”

Black Sheep sniffled, “I had a bad dream.”

Understanding formed over Ivy’s face, “Oh, okay… you wanna do a sleepover? That might help.”

Black Sheep held her plush sheep even tighter to her chest, “What’s a sleepover?”

Now Shadowsan saw that Zach had joined in standing behind Ivy in the doorway, “You’ve never had a sleepover before?”

Black Sheep shrugged, “I dunno, I never heard of it before… I sometimes—when I usually had nightmares, on the island I mean, I usually went to sleep next to... Coach Brunt—” she suppressed a sob, “But this nightmare was her crushing me, so I don’t think I would go to her even if she was here.

Ivy walked slowly over and hugged Black Sheep, “You’re okay now,” she comforts, “we won’t let the bad dreams hurt you.”

Zach nodded, “Ivy is really good at keeping my bad dreams away,” he said also entering the room to stand next to Ivy. “She usually sleeps over with me whenever I have them… maybe we should all sleep together, that’s what a sleepover is.”

Black Sheep cast a thoughtful look upon the room’s inhabitants, “I don’t know…”

Shadowsan collected up the sheets and pillows from his bed, “I have an idea, perhaps we can all sleep over on the pullout couch in the common room.”

Black Sheep perked up noticeably at the idea and they all followed him back to the common room where he unfolded the pullout couch into a bed. 

Shadowsan set up the sheets and gestured to the newly set up couch bed, “There, this should fit all of us.”

He settled into the right-hand side and Black Sheep clamored to settle in next to him, her little black sheep tucked neatly under her chin.

Ivy settled in next to Black Sheep, electing to use her large shark as her pillow.

Zach settled next to her, his plush red car held securely in his arms.

Shadowsan felt a contented warmth spread through him, “Goodnight, and hopefully your dreams will be sweet.”

Black Sheep sleepily giggled, “Sweet dreams Shadowsan. Goodnight Ivy. Goodnight Zach ...thank you.”

Ivy yawned, “Ya welcome, goodnight.”

Zach sleepily muttered, “G‘night.”

And slowly, but surely they all drifted back to sleep.

— — — — — —

When the sunlight finally started filtering through the window blinds, Shadowsan began to stir. It was still early, but he couldn’t see the wall clock to check the time from his position on the couch bed.

Black Sheep was now curled into his side, with Ivy and Zach scrunched up beside each other. They were all still deep asleep.

Shadowsan caught a glimpse of the red hovering drone drifting lazily overhead.

Player’s voice softly emanated from the little surveillance device, “Say cheese.” Followed by the sound of a simulated photo shutter.

Shadowsan whispered, as quietly as he could manage, “Player, what time is it?”

The little drone floated down to perch near Shadowsan’s head.

“For you, 6:18 AM. For me, 9:18 AM.” Player’s smile was evident in his voice, “Good morning. The weather looks to be a very pleasant partly cloudy with a high temperature of 26 degrees Celsius, 80 degrees Fahrenheit.”

“Thank you Player.” Shadowsan said, “Any news on VILE?”

There was some keyboard clacking, “Well I’ve got some stuff that I want you to look at later on the laptop because it’s in some sort of code that I’m hoping you can shed some light on.”

“Is it the first time they’ve ever used this code?”

“Yeah, or at least since I first started monitoring them.”

“Then it is an Omega level situation.”

“...meaning, what?”

“If I’m right, something has caused a great disruption in VILE; a leadership change or something similar, and they wish to keep it under wraps as much as possible while still informing agents in the field.”

Shadowsan felt the children starting to stir, and he leaned his head towards the red drone, “We will have to continue this later.”

The drone bobbed in what appeared to be a nod, and it floated back over to its’ charging dock.

Shadowsan stealthily slipped out from under Black Sheep’s sleeping grip, and moved silently into the kitchen.

He began to prepare pancake batter from scratch, it seemed only fitting to make breakfast properly if he had the time. On the laptop set up on the counter, Player ran through a visual of the code he had uncovered.

He nodded grimly, “There’s been some sort of upset, but it only says that Dr. Bellum’s ray ‘didn’t work as expected’ and something about the effective radius.”

Player squinted at his screen, “Hold on, lemme give it another crack… oh, wow.”

“What is wrong?”

“Not wrong, or at least not for us.” Player sounded almost amused, “From what I can glean here, it says that Dr. Bellum’s ray had a larger area of effect than they thought, it whammied all the VILE operatives in the building.”

“An unexpected boon, the lethargic effects of the ray on the VILE operatives probably aided in the team’s escape, and there’s also now some number less VILE operatives to actively worry about.”

“Yeah, so that’s a slight weight off our minds…” 

“Indeed.” He agreed simply, and began to search the cupboards, “Do you know where they’ve stored the syrup?”

“The good syrup is in the upper right cabinet.”

Shadowsan lifted a questioning eyebrow as he opened the cabinet and retrieved a bottle labeled; ‘Genuine Gold Label Canadian Maple Syrup’. 

“There is a bad syrup?”

Player chuckled, “There’s the cheap corn syrup stuff Zach buys, says he’s used to it, but I send this maple syrup directly from the source, so I know it’s not been cut with cheap alternative syrups. It’s Carmen and Ivy’s favorite.”

“I see. My thanks, this syrup will suit admirably.”

Finally, with breakfast prepared, Shadowsan went to rose the sleeping children.

“Rise and shine, breakfast is ready.”

They all stirred, stretched and yawned.

Ivy spoke first, “What time is it?”

“It’s currently 6:50AM.”

Black Sheep rubbed at her eyes, “What’s for breakfast?”

“I have made pancakes.”

Zach shot up like a rocket, “Pancakes!” He ran off to the kitchen faster than Shadowsan had ever seen adult Zach run.

Ivy called after him, clearly displeased at being left behind, and ran to join him.

Black Sheep got up in a slow stretch and walked alongside Shadowsan to the table.

Zach looked at the maple syrup bottle curiously, “Real maple syrup? Uh… ain’t that stuff expensive?”

Player cut in, “Don’t worry Zach, I sent it from Canada myself, I know where to get a good deal.”

Seemingly mollified, Zach looked up towards Shadowsan, “Can I...have some maple syrup please?”

It occurred to Shadowsan that Zach was ‘used to’ the cheap corn syrup only out of being unable to have the expensive type as a kid. From what he had gathered, it had taken Ivy a while to get used to the increase in quality of food after taking up with Carmen as well.

Shadowsan held out the bottle to him, but Zach didn’t move to take it. Ivy huffed, “He doesn’t wanna drop the bottle.” She said, taking the bottle from Shadowsan, “Thanks. Here ya go bro.”

She drizzled a generous portion of syrup over Zach’s pancakes, and only a few stripes on her own, though she took three butter pats off the tray and placed them on top of her pancakes.

Ivy then passes the bottle to Black Sheep, “Here you go.”

“Thanks,” she carefully holds the bottle, cradling it from the bottom, “Help me pour Shadowsan? I don’t wanna accidentally pour too much, like I did that day Professor Maelstrom said I ‘bounced off the walls.’”

Shadowsan remembers that day, it was the first day she’d been allowed to pour her own syrup; she’d practically soaked her pancakes in nearly half the bottle and ate them anyway…

He takes the bottle and proceeds to pour the syrup for her, he certainly didn’t want a repeat of that day.

After breakfast was finished and the dishes placed to soak in the sink the kids debated over what they should do next.

They discussed the issue for a while before Ivy turned to Shadowsan, “So what is there to do around here?”

Shadowsan didn’t really know what he could suggest, and he was still wary of letting them outside HQ, lest Ivy or Zach spot something that makes them realize they’re not in Boston anymore.

Player cut in and saved him, “How do you guys feel about swimming? There’s a pool in the basement, and swimming clothes with your stuff.”

All three kids turned to Player, eyes wide, Ivy spoke first, “Ooh, there’s a pool here?”

So it was settled, pool day it was.

The pool had been installed in the basement during Carmen’s recovery from her hypothermia, it was practical from both an exercise standpoint, and also to keep in practice for scuba diving.

As such, the pool had both a shallow and deep end.

In fact, there was a small room off to the side of the pool filled with Carmen’s scuba gear. The room also stored a few pool toys: a beach ball, volleyball, pool noodles, squirt guns, a foam frisbee, and an assortment of tossing rings.

Shadowsan used a bunch of floats with a rope strung through them to section off the shallow from the deep end, and instructed the kids to stay on the shallow side.

As Shadowsan took on the role of lifeguard, the kids swam happily and splashed playfully at each other; Ivy and Zach taught Black Sheep the game of ‘Marco Polo’, and Black Sheep challenged them to swimming races.

Player had the music system softly playing classic beach songs to add to the atmosphere, and provided a running sport-caster like commentary over the intercom of the children’s various activities.

This kept them occupied well into lunchtime, and on a whim Shadowsan had Player order in some pizza...it just seemed an appropriate meal for a pool party.

Player, of course, already knew the team’s favorite toppings, but made a point of asking the children the question anyway. It made sense, from the children’s perspective, there would be no way for Player to know their preferences.

Ivy grinned widely, “Bacon and sausage!”

Zach nodded enthusiastically, “And mushrooms!”

Black Sheep clapped excitedly, “Pepperoni and black olives!”

Player made a show of writing their requests in a notepad, “Alright, so that’s one medium pizza with bacon, sausage and mushrooms...and one small pizza with pepperoni and black olives.”

Shadowsan allowed himself a small smile, “A pasta salad for me if you would Player, order for takeout—I’ll go pick it up.”

The pizzeria they were ordering from is only a couple blocks away, so it wouldn’t take too long to pick up once it was ready.

Black Sheep’s eyes went wide, “You’re leaving us —by ourselves?”

“Only for a few minutes, and I’m not leaving you alone, I trust that Player can keep an eye on you.”

“Alright.” She accepted calmly, “But hurry back okay?”

“As swiftly as my feet can carry me.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Player is the best friend and team support ever.

The pizza was a big hit, and the children were in great spirits as they ate contentedly sitting at the poolside, watching a movie that was being projected onto the opposite wall.

Shadowsan sat by himself off to the side, quietly conferring with Player on the laptop, “I am unspeakably grateful for your help, I hope you know that—though I am poor in my expression of it.”

Player’s room was dimly lit, only the bluish glow from his many monitors lighting his face, but his embarrassed blush was still visible, “Awe shucks, just doing what I can as the team’s support.”

“Do not sell yourself short,” Shadowsan chided softly, “your contributions to the team are vitally important. I do not know if I could have weathered these past few days nearly as well without your aid… in fact I am sure I wouldn’t have.”

Player squirmed uncomfortably at the praise, “Well, thanks...for saying so,” he smiled shyly, “I’m glad—when we first ‘met’ I was worried we wouldn’t get along.”

Yes, Shadowsan remembered his initial reaction upon seeing Player on Carmen’s phone— a derisive; ‘more children?!’... how ironic the statement seemed now.

Even before the team had been de-aged, one could argue that Player was actually one of the more mature members of Team Carmen.

He had horribly underestimated Player, and to his credit Player had pointedly ignored Shadowsan’s unfounded derision of him and chose instead to make sure Carmen’s statement of him being her ‘secret weapon’ proved true. 

The solo missions he’d engaged in with just Player as remote technical back-up only served to reinforce the fact of the young boy’s exceptional aptitude. 

Not only in forging exceptional travel documents and ID’s, but also in piecing together the information he’d decrypted from the hard drive alongside the VILE chatter he managed to intercept.

Really, decrypting a VILE hard drive was a challenge all by itself and Shadowsan can’t help but be impressed that this young child had somehow managed to circumvent Dr.Bellum’s tech in the first place.

In fact, when he learned that it was Player’s accidental stumbling upon VILE island servers —and it’s 27 layers of protection, no less— and hacking through it that had lead to Carmen’s eventual exodus from the island; he reflected that Player might actually be the member of Carmen’s team with the most seniority.

There was, of course, a limit to how much he could help them remotely; foiling VILE’s technology, intel gathering and piloting the remote drone were very valuable contributions, but it was up to the team when it came to actually fighting with VILE operatives.

It was very much like a game of chess, Shadowsan realized, wherein Player was the Chess Grandmaster and they were the pieces he had in play.

In this metaphor he supposed that Carmen would be readily cast as the queen piece, as she had the most agency and moves available.

Zach and Ivy… well Shadowsan wouldn’t go so far as to call them pawns exactly, for as much as he derides their amateur thief skills, they had their own skill sets they excelled in. Perhaps the castles most suited them, they did work best when they had a clear direction—as long as the person directing them knew their strengths and limitations.

Shadowsan probably would be cast either as a knight or a bishop. He certainly wouldn’t cast himself as the king piece, especially since he knew Carmen and her team had certainly managed without him before he’d joined.

It was all sort of terrifying, when one stopped to dwell on it, really— the lynchpin of their whole operation was the youngest member.

Shadowsan shook off his reverie with a sigh, “I was mistaken, far too quick to use youth as a judgment against competency… “ he admitted readily, “For that, I can only belatedly apologize, you have since proved how wrong my initial assessment was.”

Player smiled easily, “Apology accepted,” he said with a casual dismissive wave, “glad we’ve come to an understanding.”

The movie was wrapping up, and Shadowsan got up to help the children put away the leftover pizza, clean up the messy pizza boxes and various used paper plates and napkins.

They were still interested in playing pool games after that, but after another hour and a half they were beginning to tire of swimming.

He passed them out fresh beach towels and corralled them up to the common room and he set up the couch for them to have a nap.

Black Sheep tugged on Shadowsan’s sleeve, “Shouldn’t we clean up first? We still have pool chemicals in our hair.”

Oh—right.

Shadowsan glanced over at Ivy, “Do you need—“

Ivy stopped him short, “Me and Zach can take baths by ourselves.” 

He nodded, “Very well.” He pointed them to their rooms en-suite bathrooms and left them to their own devices.

Shadowsan ran Black Sheep a bubble bath and left her to clean up on her own after ascertaining that she had bathed without the assistance of a nanny for a while now.

So that was another potentially awkward hurtle surmounted relatively easily. Shadowsan had worried that bath time would have been more of a hassle when it came time for it, but there the team were, ever surprising him.

They slowly trickled back into the common room, each changed into some of the new clothing Player had acquired for them. Shadowsan collected their dirty clothing and placed them in the washroom hamper.

He returned to the common room to the sight of the children serenely napping together on the pullout bed. The red drone floated gently overhead, keeping careful watch over them. Shadowsan smiled contentedly, and he quietly returned to his room with the laptop.

Player had some images of text pulled up on half of the screen, his video call on the other half, “Looks like quite a few of the VILE operatives were poised in that base; ready to nab the team after they got zapped.” Player sounded pleased, “Though it doesn’t go into exact numbers.”

“They wouldn’t want anybody knowing how many operatives have been—sidelined, for lack of a better term.”

“I would have said kid-a-fied, but yeah.” Laughter evident in his voice, “I can get that, they don’t want their enemies to glean how much weaker this one incident has made them.”

Player removed the text half from the laptop, and the video of him switched back to full screen, “So I’m hopeful I’ll hear something by way of: a cure or solution of some sort.”

Shadowsan nodded, “It would make sense for them to try and reverse engineer the ray’s effects. Too much a waste of assets to leave them as children, not to mention on how far back this has probably set them in whatever schedule they had planned prior to the incident with the ray.”

“Yeah, I would imagine so.” Player agreed, “So how long do we let the kids nap for? Because the internet recommends anything up to two and a half hours, depending on how much sleep they get at night...I’m assuming they’re all about five here.”

“I suppose, if they do not wake themselves before that time, we will rouse them then.” Shadowsan said consideringly, “They got in a lot of exercise today, and probably need the rest.”

Player made a note on his computer, and nodded, “Okay, I’ve set an alarm for a two and a half hour timer. What’s the game plan until then?”

Shadowsan sighed, “I do not know, aside from planning and preparing dinner, I do not have anything else immediately in mind.”

Player shifted in his chair, “I mean...if the team can’t be turned back for a while; we can’t possibly confine them to HQ indefinitely. They are going to wonder where they are eventually.”

“I will do my best to obstruct the truth of the matter, when they ask I will simply reply ‘Downtown’ and let Ivy or Zach come to their own conclusions as to which downtown I am referring to.”

“Yeah I guess?” Player replied doubtfully, “I mean, I’ll follow your lead on this...I just hope it doesn’t blow up in our faces.”

“Indeed, or the children may never fully trust us again.”


	6. Chapter 6

> Shadowsan resolved set aside the problem of how to deal with the questions that the children might possibly ask for now. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be as much of an issue as he was dreading it might be.

That was a bridge he would cross if he came to it.

As it was, the children finished out the day still blissfully unaware of exactly where they were, and Shadowsan saw no reason to change that for the time being.

They ate leftover pizza for dinner—upon their own insistence— Shadowsan would have preferred they would opt for a more proper dinner, but he went along with their choice this once.

It was important that children felt they had _ some _ say in what they ate, and having pizza for two meals in a row wouldn’t _ really _ do them any harm in the long-run.

After the children finished dinner, Shadowsan offered to teach them some origami, it seemed like it would be a good mentally challenging activity, and it wouldn’t get them too wound up before bed time.

Zach quickly went from trying to fold paper swans and flowers, to folding paper planes instead.

Ivy, once she figured out how to fold a flower made one in every color of origami paper they had been provided.

Black Sheep took to her origami with much the same enthusiasm as she had the first time he had introduced it to her all those years ago.

She had a collection of farmyard animals folded before her, predominantly sheep, she explained them as being Lambkins’ friends.

After a half-hour of concentrated folding the children had managed to get through all of the origami paper that Shadowsan had brought out for them.

Ivy fashioned her origami flowers into a crown, which she then proceeded to shyly give to Black Sheep.

She had a prominent blush on her face as she said, “Here, this is for you.”

Black Sheep tried on the crown and clapped happily, “Thanks!” She picked up some origami sharks she had fashioned, “I have a present for you too, I made Lydia some friends!”

Ivy seemed gobsmacked, “Well—thanks?” She said, tentatively accepting the assortment of origami sharks, “That’s really nice of you.”

Zach considered his large collection of paper planes, he grabbed two and gave them to Ivy and Black Sheep, “Here, these ones are supposed to be stunt planes— let’s throw them around and see if we can get them to do tricks!”

Off they went, trying—and sometimes even succeeding—to make their planes perform any number of aerial stunts.

This new activity kept them busy until it was time to get them ready for bed.

There was a little apprehension on the part of Black Sheep, afraid that she might have another nightmare.

Ivy offered her another sleepover, and Black Sheep had looked up at Shadowsan with her huge puppy dog eyes.

So everyone got situated on the pullout couch in the common room for the second night in a row.

The children all fell asleep clustered together towards their half of the couch, While Shadowsan lay off to the other side, quietly observing them until he too fell asleep.

  


* * *

  


Shadowsan woke up in the middle of the night to the distinctive feeling of Black Sheep wriggling next to him, she was clearly having another nightmare, so he gently went to wake her.

She jolted awake and started crying loudly, “Why, Coach Brunt?!” Ivy and Zach we’re almost immediately awake and set about comforting her, Ivy had her arm around Black Sheep and Zack patted her back soothingly.

She turned to hide her face in her sleeve, now nearly sobbing, “Sorry, I woke you up again, I’m sorry!”

Shadowsan tried his best to calm her, supplementing gestures with soothing reassurances, “Now, now Black Sheep. It’s alright—you’re safe with us, nothing to fear here.”

Black Sheep curled into Ivy, but looked back at Shadowsan, “Would you tell a story? It might help me—whenever I had a bad dream back on the island, a story would usually help.”

“Of course, any preference of what story I should read?”

“Do you know any more stories about Carmen Sandiego? Player’s told us the one about getting the money off the boat, and the purple gems...are there more?”

Shadowsan smiled, “Yes, in fact there are many more. Let me think...I think I have a good one, it'll probably become one of your favorites. It’s the story of Carmen Sandiego and the Race Car.”

Zach and Ivy leaned in, both obviously interested in the story’s subject matter.

Black Sheep shifted until she faced him on the couch bed, “Does this story have the Mechanic and the Driver in it too?”

“Why yes, in fact they’re both _ instrumental _ in helping Carmen steak back the stolen car.”

All three children voiced agreement that this sounded like a great story, so Shadowsan launches into a carefully edited tale of the Dubai Electric Car Caper.

“When Carmen and her team heard that the world’s fastest race car was in danger of being stolen, they acted quickly and headed straight to Dubai…”

The children listen attentively, though their eyelids began to droop even before he got to the car chase through Dubai.

By the time he had gotten the part where ‘The Mechanic’ and The Driver’ drove the race car out of the flying blimp to the rooftops below, all three children had fallen back to sleep.

Shadowsan finally settled back down to sleep. He was hopeful that Black Sheep would have sweet dreams for the rest of the night, at least. 

It worried him greatly. After all the nightmare was seemingly an unconscious memory of Coach Brunt’s attempt to crush her to death in a bear hug, what other events from her adulthood could leak into her dreams.

What if she remembers nearly freezing in an icy ravine in Stockholm?

Shadowsan reminded himself that he could only take things as they come. For there was no telling what was next, with the potential side effects of the de-aging process being a massively unknown quantity, the nightmares might just be a temporary symptom for all he knew.

Eventually...he had to concede that he couldn’t keep the _ entirety _ of the children’s situation secret forever. It would be better for him to willingly tell them rather than have them find out unexpectedly.

Something Player had said earlier re-occurred to him now; ‘We can’t keep them cooped up in HQ indefinitely’, and he was right of course.

_ Tomorrow, I will discuss with Player the possible safe avenues of outdoor activities for the children, _ Shadowsan resolved, _ regardless of my apprehensions, they deserve the ability to play outside. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can’t keep the children confined inside forever, though how’ll they’ll react to being in Sandiego is something Shadowsan’s been dreading. Good luck buddy!


	7. Chapter 7

As Shadowsan began preparing breakfast, Team Carmen (minus Player of course) slept peacefully. 

A newly resolved Shadowsan began to discuss with Player the unavoidable reality of the children’s so far enforced confinement finally being lifted.

Player, of course, had already started researching safe outdoor activities for kids even before Shadowsan had asked him to.

“I wanted to be ready,” Player explained, “I mean, in the event that the team is de-aged long term; the subject of going outside was going to come up _ eventually _.”

“Indeed.” Shadowsan agreed, honestly not surprised that Player had managed to anticipate his eventual capitulation to the _ ‘we have to tell them the truth before they find out themselves’ _plan.

“Good news though, from what I can sort out of the encoded VILE chatter; the current theory is that the effects of Dr. Bellum’s de-aging ray should wear off on their own—_ eventually _. It doesn’t really go into a timescale on that.”

“That is a relief to hear,” Shadowsan’s shoulders lost some tension he hadn’t even realized he had been bearing, “hopefully the next thing we hear is confirmation of this hypothesis.”

“Yeah, I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out.” Player confirms more as a part of conversation rather than to reassure Shadowsan, who didn’t doubt for a second that Player would do anything less. “Anyway, I’ve got a list of suggestions of kid friendly places that are nearby to HQ, I’ll send it to your phone.”

Shadowsan evaluated the list, filled with parks and public play areas and attractions, “Any thoughts on where we ought to go today?”

“The Sandiego Zoo, kids 5 and under get in free with an accompanying adult, _ and _I can also hack their cameras so I can view a live-feed of the team to help you keep track of them.” Player typed something up on his computer, “It’s one of the more surveilled areas on my list so it’s where I can be most helpful if any of the team manages to wander off.”

“That does sound ideal for the first outing.”

“No problem, I’ll send the best up-to-the-minute traffic directions to your GPS when you guys start to head to the zoo, alright?”

Once again, Player found a multitude of ways to go above and beyond as team support, Shadowsan once again could only marvel at the amount he managed to accomplish with a few keystrokes.

Shadowsan offered the video call of Player a thankful genuflect, “Yes. _ Thank you, _ Player.”

Player shyly shrugged, “You’re welcome, always glad to help any way I can.”

Shadowsan nodded and left to wake the children up for their breakfast.

Breakfast was a simple bowl of sweet oatmeal mixed with fruit with glasses of chocolate milk as a bit of a treat.

The children sleepily wandered in to sit around the dining table, Black Sheep still looking a little despondent from having yet another nightmare that woke everyone up.

Shadowsan sat at the table next to Black Sheep, “Player has helped me plan a fun activity for today,” Shadowsan informed simply, “are you feeling up for an adventure?”

Sure enough that perked Black Sheep right up, and also got the attention of Ivy and Zach from their side of the table.

Black Sheep spoke first, “Ooh, Player comes up with great games! What are we doing?”

Shadowsan allowed himself a small smile, “Well, I know you’ve never been off the island before to see one, but I’m sure you’ve been taught what a zoo is—”

Black Sheep practically leapt from her spot at the table, “A ZOO?! YES YES YES YES YES!” She cheered, “I’ve read about them before in one of my books, I’ve always wanted to go to one!”

Ivy looked between lack Sheep celebrating and the calm Shadowsan, “Isn’t the zoo...expensive?”

Again the subject of expenses had been brought up by one of the siblings, truly they had been forced to grow up far too young, Shadowsan reflected sadly.

Shadowsan alleviated her fear, “Admission is free for young children.”

Ivy nodded, “Alrighty then. I’ve always wanted to go to the zoo.”

Zach seemed as thrilled as Black Sheep, “Ooh I hope they have cheetahs!” Zach cast his glance over to the laptop where Player was working on something on his multiple monitors, “Hey Player, does the zoo have cheetahs?”

Player’s hands flew over his keyboard and an image of cheetahs with their cubs displayed itself to the side of the monitor, “Yeah they have quite a few, and they have young cubs too.”

Suddenly there was an image of a zoo map up on the laptop monitor, and Player carried on explaining, “They’ll have a directory—er, I mean, they’ll have maps there to help you all find the animals you want to see.”

Zach scrambled over to look closer at the laptop’s screen and he evaluated the map, “Wow, there’s a lot of animals in the zoo, it must be huge!”

Player chuckled, “Yeah, it is pretty big.”

Ivy crossed her arms, “You better not run off on your own and get lost bro.”

Shadowsan nodded, “Yes, it is important that you all remain within my sight lines at all times, barring restroom breaks of course. As much as Player might be able to monitor our trip over the zoo’s surveillance cameras and the red drone, I would much prefer to be able to keep an eye on you all as well.”

Black Sheep clapped happily, “No problem, right guys?”

Ivy stood up from the table and nodded seriously, “You’ve got a deal Mr. Shadowsan, right Zach?”

Zach nodded eagerly, “Yeah!”

Shadowsan instructed the kids to put on their shoes while he readied the supplies they would need for the trip, and to meet him by the side door to the garage room.

Thus instructed, the kids ran off to comply.

_They obviously were beginning to feel the restrictiveness of HQ’s confines, _ Shadowsan thought to himself as he grabbed some reusable water bottles, sunshades, and sunscreen to put in a travel bag, _ as large as this former warehouse is, it is no surprise they would be raring to go outside at some point._

Shadowsan strapped the travel bag and wore it like a backpack, he then gathered the earpiece that Player had designed for him, it looked like a discreet hearing aide, and was so light and small as to be barely noticeable.

He tapped the device once it was set in his ear, “Earpiece check.”

“Receiving you loud and clear,” Player confirmed cheerfully, “All set for operation: Zoo Trip.”

Shadowsan joined the children gathered over by the side door and he corralled them all into the garage and got them settled in the back of one of the larger cars.

Player helpfully had the GPS all set up and also had a selection of fun road-trip music piping softly through the car’s sound system.

So far, so good.


	8. Chapter 8

The children, even when sat in the car seats that Player had thoughtfully ordered two days ago, couldn’t really see out of the car windows. 

So, mercifully Shadowsan was spared the question of why all the cars license plates said ‘California’ or occasionally a neighboring state like ‘Nevada’ instead of the various states of Boston and it’s surrounds.

He was going to have to face the music eventually, but Shadowsan didn’t know exactly how he was going to mollify two children over the fact that they were no longer anywhere near where they grew up.

At least Black Sheep had taken to being off the island entirely in her care-free stride, though she had the comfort of having Shadowsan as a familiar face—barring the fact that he looked markedly older than what she remembered, he was still a tie to the island.

Zach and Ivy didn’t even have that.

When they finally arrived at the zoo, Shadowsan began helping the children disembark from the car. He definitely didn’t imagine Ivy’s careful evaluation of the large sign that proudly declared: “San Diego Zoo” over the front gates.

She leveled a surprisingly sad look at his face, she cast her gaze at Zach who was chatting happily with Black Sheep.

Ivy, seeing that Zach wasn’t in ear-shot looked back to Shadowsan, “Mr. Shadowsan, we aren’t in Boston anymore...are we?”

Shadowsan nodded, “You are not.”

“Oh.” Ivy said sadly, but didn’t elaborate further.

“I’m sorry, I did not know how to tell you.”

Ivy looked down at her feet, “When… and don’t tell Zach this, I don’t want him worrying...one time when I overheard the child protection lady talking, she said something about our parents having to leave Boston ‘cause —The Mob— was after them… is… is The Mob after us now too?”

Shadowsan felt himself reeling internally from the sudden wave of despair from this new revelation. Only about  _ five years old, _ and she was worried about  ** _mobsters_ ** .

He managed what he hoped was a soothing tone, “No, and even if they were I would not allow either you or your brother to fall into harm.”

Zach and Black Sheep were now both looking impatiently at them. Black Sheep nearly bouncing on her feet with anticipation.

She ran back over and tugged on Shadowsan’s sleeve, “Come on, Shadowsan what’s taking so long?”

Ivy forced a laugh at Black Sheep’s antics, “Alright already, Black Sheep!” she hopped down from the car and ran to join her brother in standing by Black Sheep. 

Shadowsan did his best to school his face into his usual neutral expression, now slightly shaken by Ivy’s reaction to realizing that she and Zach were no longer in Boston...and her conclusion as to  _ why that would be. _

Zach, for his part, was blissfully unaware that anything was amiss. Seemingly he was far to distracted by the excitement of the zoo to pause to wonder about the name of said zoo.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


After a thankfully brief queue line and ticket acquisition, the children all revived armbands with attached tags for Shadowsan to fill out his contract information —just in case any of the children got separated from him.

Shadowsan wrote his cover name, explaining to the children that it was ‘his American name’. 

As for the contact information, he put the number of the phone Player had patched to connect to his earpiece, “Now do not go thinking that this means you can wander freely, remember what you all promised.”

The children all nodded, Ivy’s nods had slightly more gravity to them than either Zach or Black Sheep’s. Shadowsan could tell that Ivy planned to keep a  _ very _ close eye on her brother to make sure that they didn’t get separated.

Shadowsan sighed internally, but now wasn’t the time to try to address Ivy’s overprotectiveness of her brother. He would do what he could to prove to Ivy that she could trust him to do his best to protect all of them.

The children poured over the zoo directory, deciding what direction they should go and what animals they wanted to see.

Black Sheep seemed drawn to the prospect of a petting zoo, “Look, they actually  _ let people  _ pet the farm animals—Ooh they got goats and pigs, and horses—and  _ sheep.” _

Ivy and Zach both smiled widely at her enthusiasm, but they were more excited to see the more exotic fare that the zoo had to offer than they were at the prospect at petting farm animals.

They all agreed that they would have to swing by and check it out, but later. They had cheetahs and the like to see first.

Black Sheep was more than happy to go along with this plan, because  _ seeing _ all the exotic animals, that she’d only ever seen pictures of,  _ in person  _ was certainly a very enticing proposition.

Player, very obviously amused by the children’s unabashed gawking at the animals mused aloud to Shadowsan, “Definitely glad I’m getting a live feed of this, it’s so nice seeing them all so care-free.”

Shadowsan sighed and murmured gently into the earpiece, “Not entirely care-free.”

“Yeah, I heard what Ivy had to say about no longer being in Boston. Heavy stuff.” Player sighed sadly, “Never before have I been more aware of the fact that I’m the only one on team Carmen who knows their  _ birth parents.” _

“I admit I hadn’t thought to dwell on the fact myself.”

Player and Shadowsan lapsed into a calm reflective silence, only being broken by the occasional offering of an obscure animal fact that had not been on the plaques but that the internet readily provided.

Shadowsan dutifully passed the interesting trivia tidbits on to the kids, however most of the facts probably paled in comparison to just experiencing  _ observing _ the actual animals.

At lunch time they took a well earned break to eat at the food court that was set off to the side of the main zoo, to discourage the feeding of the animals.

The children talked excitedly between bites of their chicken fingers and fries, discussing both the animals they’d seen and what they wanted to see next.

Zach guestured enthusiastically, “It must be really strange to have a neck as long as a giraffe’s”

Black Sheep nodded, “Yeah, and I can’t believe that they’ve only got  _ seven  _ neck bones. Only  _ seven?! _ ”

Ivy laughed, “They must be really big neck bones.”

Zach nodded, “Just one of them is probably as big as one of us.”

Shadowsan ate quietly content to just watch the children as they discussed the map layer out on the table in front of them.

Black Sheep pointed to an area near the spot they were sat currently, “Hey, look! We’re right next to the petting zoo, can we go their next?”

Ivy giggled, “Can’t wait anymore to see the sheep ‘eh Black Sheep?”

Black Sheep blushed, “I’ve always wanted to get to pet a sheep, they seem like they’d be soft… I mean Countess Cleo has these big dogs back on the island and I get to play with them sometimes… and sometimes Dr. Bellum lets me play with her lab rats and Guinea pigs— but that’s about it.”

Ivy’s face softened, “Hey— I didn’t mean nothing by it. I wanna pet the farm animals too, I hear they even let people feed them too!”

Black Sheep brightened, “Ooh we might be able to  _ feed _ these animals?”

Player chimed in, “Yeah I looked it up, they’ve got these pellets you can buy—make sure none of the kids gets it into their heads to sneak them chicken or whatever from the food court.”

Shadowsan allowed himself a smile, “They have food pellets that they provide to feed the animals, no sneaking any food from the cafe  _ Zach.” _

Zach let out a disappointed, “Awe nuts.” Before emptying his pockets, “And here I thought I was being sneaky.”

Black Sheep laughed, “Hard to sneak past a ninja Zach. Plus I’m pretty sure farm animals don’t eat  _ chicken.” _

Zach blushed, “Oh yeah right, chicken are also farm animals.”

Ivy rolled her eyes, “Honestly bro, farm animals eat grass, hay and plants; they don’t eat meat.”

Zach rubbed at his face, “Right yeah, I knew that.”

Seeing as the children had finished their lunch Shadowsan helped them gather and throw away their trash. 

Shadowsan turned to address the kids “So it’s decided, next stop; the petting zoo.”

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bit about giraffes having only seven neck vertebrae is TRUE and is your fun fact for today!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shadowsan reflects on worries and what-if’s as he watches the kids play with the animals

Black Sheep was, rather unsurprisingly, enthralled with the various sheep, especially the particularly small lambs.

Ivy was more interested in feeding the small ducklings, imitating the small chirping noises that they made as she coaxed them to eat out of her hands.

Zach, for his part, wasn’t overly interested in any particular animal, but was content in flitting back and forth to watch Black Sheep and Ivy’s various animal interactions.

It was hard to keep an eye on all three children, being more spread out in the petting zoo than they had been in the wider zoo proper. 

They were still all blessedly mindful to all keep within eye shot of Shadowsan, and Player had reassured him already that the entire petting zoo area was well surveilled by both the zoo’s cameras and the drone floating somewhere silently overhead.

Shadowsan of course kept a careful eye on the children, still wary about losing sight of them, even with Player keeping remote watch, and them all being contained in the relatively small, penned-in area of the petting zoo.

It was hard to shake off a lifetime of paranoia, constantly waiting for a backstab, a betrayal. Even as a member of VILE faculty he hadn’t  _ trusted _ them, you couldn’t turn your back nor drop your guard against thieves of their caliber and not expect retribution.

He was certainly very aware that Team Carmen’s current status as children had everything to do with VILE striking back at the team via Dr. Bellum’s experimental de-aging ray.

They had gotten too ambitious in their attacks against VILE, and such had fallen into a trap. One that could have just have easily been lethal had Dr. Bellum been more inclined to incineration as her method of retribution.

Team Carmen, Shadowsan reflected, could just as easily be  _ dead, _ had Dr. Bellum’s ray been built for such a purpose.

As it was, Shadowsan didn’t really know what Dr. Bellum was playing at by turning Team Carmen into children, but honestly it ultimately didn’t seem to matter what her ends were; what mattered is that the ray left them  _ alive, _ if slightly altered, and  _ relatively _ unharmed.

Still though, ever present was the nagging thought:  _ what if _ . 

That question was hard to shake

It didn’t really do to dwell on it, but even as Shadowsan took to the task of taking many pictures of the children with the various barn animals, he couldn’t help but have his ever paranoid mind mull over the question multiple times.

Team Carmen we’re so  _ vulnerable  _ as children, Shadowsan reflected, plenty of unfortunate things could befall them that they would have no longer have sufficient skills or tools to combat.

Shadowsan had to remind himself that, even though he felt alone in his worry, he wasn’t really. Player had been an invaluable help, as usual, and was as worried as to the health and general well-being of Team Carmen, Shadowsan included.

Player chimmed into his earpiece at around 2:30, “So if you want to avoid most of the 4:00 rush hour traffic, which I definitely would if I were you, I would recommend wrapping the zoo trip up and leaving before three.”

Shadowsan nodded subtly, quietly he replied, “Copy that.” He then turned his attention to corralling the children to finish feeding the animals the food they had purchased for that express purpose.

Reluctantly the children offered the animals final pats and the remaining dregs of the feed they had left in their hands and they waved a sad goodbye to the assembled animals.

Black Sheep was the first to remember her manners and she thanked Shadowsan for bringing them all to the zoo, and Ivy and Zach quickly followed suit. 

She even asked that Shadowsan passed along their thanks to Player for helping them plan the zoo trip, and of course Shadowsan did so.

It occurred to Shadowsan that even though they had been at the zoo for just over four hours it certainly didn’t feel like it had been that long… what was the idiom...Time flies when you’re having fun?

Well that saying seemed certainly proven true in his case, and that of the children. Though it was apparent to Shadowsan that it was drawing perilously close to the children’s nap time.

Indeed on the car ride home the children easily slipped into sleep, dozing deeply, secure in their car seats.

They were quietly sleeping the entire ride, the only noise in the car was their soft breathing and occasional shuffling.

Player had even thought to route the GPS’ audible instruction directly to the earpiece instead of piping over the speakers to further insure that the children could sleep peacefully.

Player talked to him in between driving instructions, “It’s not surprising that they’d fall asleep, I read that taking kids on a long car rides to soothe them to sleep is a very common parenting tactic.”

Shadowsan nodded, he didn’t have much experience rearing children but he imagined that parents had a bevy of methods to lull them to sleep if they were disinclined to do so.

Player continued, “Interesting news on the de-aging front.” he said, which made Shadowsan tense in anticipation, “Good news, from what I can gather Dr. Bellum’s ray effects have proven temporary, the VILE agents who were on the very edge of the radius of the ray’s effects are now listed as; ‘returned to operational status’, and I think we both know what that’s got to be code for.”

Shadowsan agreed softly, but voiced a concern, “What of someone directly  _ hit by  _ the ray, is there any concern from VILE that Team Carmen might be able to revert back to adulthood?”

Player sighed , “Nothing on that front, other than Dr. Bellum seems hopeful that a  ** _direct_ ** hit from the ray won’t wear off —at all.”

“I feared as much, but I remain hopeful that she is wrong in that aspect, certainly her device hasn’t operated to her specs so far.”

“Yeah, I’m just glad we’ve got what basically amounts to confirmation that the ray’s effects _are_ _capable_ of wearing off on their own.”

“Indeed, and I am glad for the news. Thank you Player, your technological skills at obtaining the information necessary is  _ most appreciated _ .”

“Of course, just doing what I can to help.”

Shadowsan smiled slightly, and the rest of the drive was spent in comfortable silence barring further instructions from the GPS.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it my birthday tomorrow (December 16th) and I’m turning 27, it feels like 2012 was only yesterday...where did the time go?


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shadowsan and Player decompress after the zoo trip over dinner prep.

The children were all still sleeping soundly when Shadowsan pulled the car into the HQ’s garage. He observed them for a brief moment before deciding to carry them in rather than disturb their sleep, they had about an hour left to their nap time after all.

First Shadowsan wrangled Ivy and Zach, because he surmised that one waking up and not immediately being able to discern where the other was located would be distressing, especially in Ivy’s case.

It was really rather distressing how much Ivy had felt she needed to take on a sort of parenting role concerning Zach. Shadowsan knew she was the ‘older’ of the siblings but she really couldn’t be  _ that much _ older than Zach? 

Really they seemed close enough in age that Shadowsan suspected that they might be even be twins, but of course he had never thought to ask.

If they thought the distinction was important they would have probably already volunteered the information, but as it stood all that they’d made mention of is that Ivy was the elder of the two—whatever that difference  _ actually _ amounted to being a different matter.

Shadowsan supposed he could ask Player now if he really had to know. He would be hesitant to ask Ivy or Zach in their current condition as children, because he suspected that as their temporary caregiver he would be expected to know the fact already.

It was of course much easier to lift Ivy and Zach as children than when he did it back in Rio’s favelas, them being much lighter, but this time he had to be wary about waking them.

Rather fortunate they had mistaken him for El Topo wearing that mask, otherwise their introduction to him by Carmen might have been more difficult, what with Shadowsan tying them up and placing them in that empty rooftop water container.

The red drone hovered behind his shoulder, but halted to stay near the car and keep watching over Black Sheep as Shadowsan walked inside to place Ivy and Zach onto the pull out couch.

He returned once he had Ivy and Zach settled and just as carefully scooped up the sleeping Black Sheep. She unconsciously shifted in her sleep and ended up with her head cradled just under Shadowsan’s chin.

Shadowsan gently settled Black Sheep next to Ivy on the couch bed, and quietly snuck off to the kitchen to start preparing dinner.

Once he closed the door, he set up the laptop to be able to video chat with Player as he worked on cooking.

Player had his attention on several screens in his peripheral vision as usual, constantly on the lookout for any VILE activity, decrypting the hard drive, and keeping tabs on ACME as well.

He consulted one of the screens in front of him, “No time estimates on the recovery of the people in mid-range to the effect radius of the de-aging ray...though Dr. Bellum seems optimistic that more agents can be ‘listed as active’ by tomorrow.”

Shadowsan nodded, “It would make sense that the operatives closer to the ray would remain affected longer.”

“Certainly stands to reason.” Player agreed cheerily, “That just leaves the question of whether or not someone directly hit by the beam is going to revert back in just a few more days or… longer.”

“Let us hope for a few more days, I fear if it takes any longer than that VILE will regain its footing without the team being able to counter them.”

“I’ll nudge ACME if it comes to it, though heaven only knows how seriously their Chief will take an untraceable anonymous cyber tip just after my recent full system hack of their servers.”

The fact that Player could off-handily list such an achievement as if it were no big deal and be genuine in his humility would never cease to impress Shadowsan.

He simply nodded in agreement, “We can but wait and see.”

“Well let’s just be glad Dr. Bellum’s ray doesn’t seem to have done any  _ long term _ damage—really it could have been a lot worse.”

Shadowsan could only hum in agreement, finding himself at a loss for words.

Because didn’t what Player just say precisely hit the worried nail on its head, wasn’t Shadowsan just contemplating that self same thing?

_ What if the ray had been worse, what if they’d been successfully captured, what if the ray never wears off? _

Again Shadowsan had to school himself to stop dwelling on thoughts, he could only solve the immediate problem of caring for the kid-ified team for now so that’s what he should focus on.

No need to worry about problems he didn’t even have, he needed to focus on the issues currently confronting him.

Player had the drone floating lazily over the couch bed in the common room, and as such had a small square showing in the lower corner of the laptop screen that was displaying a video of the children soundly sleeping.

It was good to have visual confirmation of the teams’ continued safety to help to calm him down.

_ Player is really exceptional at anticipating what they all required to function effectively as a team _ , Shadowsan found himself thinking, and not for the first time,  _ I don’t think I could hope for a better Grandmaster for our team. _

Out loud he picked up a different conversation thread, “Player, how are you at chess?”

On the screen Shadowsan saw Player casually shrug a shoulder, “I’m alright at it I guess? I’ve only played against a computer and there the pieces tell you where they can move whenever you click on them. I’ve no idea how I’d do IRL— _ er _ that is, in real life.” Player leaned back in his chair, “I’d probably not fair as well, why?”

“Just idle curiosity.”

“We could play a game of chess over the laptop if you’d like?”

Shadowsan evaluated the oven and nodded, the dish wouldn’t be done for some time, and the children should be napping for a while yet. So he pulled up a dining chair and sat in front of the laptop and positioned his hands at the sides of the keyboard.

He allowed himself a small smile, “I would like that very much, what color would you like?”

“Well since I challenged you, I suppose you ought to get the white pieces and get to start first.”

Player was just  _ giving _ him the advantage of going first, interesting. Shadowsan set forward one of his pawns, looking forward to observing Player’s chess strategy.

  
  



	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Recovery from a zoo trip, the kids are tuckered out. Shadowsan reflects, Player is the best.

Player, as it turned out, ran a very careful strategy when playing chess. It was obvious to Shadowsan that Player disliked the sacrifice strategies immensely, reluctant to lose any piece even if it would eventually cost his opponent more dearly.

The format of the game, and the unusual aspect of each piece highlighting what spots it could move to when clicked upon were both unsettling at first, so it took awhile for Shadowsan to acclimate.

All told, the game slowly but surely turned to Shadowsan’s favor and he finally won the match.

Player didn’t sound too put out though, “Good game, they make chess part of VILE training?”

“There are many classes concerning strategy, and chess is taught in one of them.”

“Figures. So I guess I should be glad I held out as long as I did, seeing as I’ve never taken a chess class ever in my life.”

“You played very admirably, no doubt with time you shall be able to beat me easily.”, Shadowsan stood up and offered the laptop screen a proper respectful genuflect, “Thank you for the game.”

Player blushed, “No problem. Nap time is up, so I’ll go wake the team and occupy them until dinner time—the lasagna you’re making looks really good by the way.”

“Very well, and thank you for both your aid and the compliment.”

Player signed off the laptop and Shadowsan could hear the faint sound from the common room of Player announcing over the drone that nap time had come to an end.

Shadowsan hummed softly to himself, glad to have some quiet time to himself. Helping to raise Black Sheep back on the island, while teaching various classes, was not really enough preparation to be ready to suddenly be almost single-handedly responsible for  _ three  _ children. 

For one, he had only tertiary responsibilities in respects to raising Black Sheep in the first place. There being four other faculty members and various nannies to help care for a single child.

Secondly, he also had to be wary they not draw any unnecessary attention upon themselves, especially while both ACME and VILE were on the hunt for Team Carmen.

At least it’s not only on his shoulders to keep the children happy and occupied, and Player seemed to be a fount of fun activities. 

Not to mention that Ivy and Zach seemed more at ease with Player around, probably because he was closer to their age and thus ‘a kid like them’ vs a strange adult that was  _ foreign  _ on top of merely being unfamiliar to them.

Shadowsan wondered briefly as to the population density of Japanese, or indeed Asians, in the south of Boston when Ivy and Zach would have been growing up there.

At least Black Sheep was able to vouch for him, as different as he must look from when she actually knew him the first time. Shadowsan couldn’t even begin to imagine how difficult it would have been to convince Ivy or Zach to trust him without Black Sheep as an intermediary.

_ It doesn’t really bear thinking about, _ Shadowsan admonished himself again,  _ I have enough on my plate worrying about the things that are actually problems. _

Shadowsan resolved himself to focusing on his dinner preparation, rather than to continue to allow his thoughts to meander down ‘what if’ road again.

* * *

  
When Shadowsan finally emerges from the kitchen he finds the children sitting in a loose triangle on the floor, playing a card game under the careful instruction of Player.

The cards are unusually colorful and don’t appear to be a standard four suit deck, Shadowsan doesn’t recognize the game.

He walks up as Black Sheep spots him and says, “There you are Shadowsan, come check out this strange card game, it’s very fun!”

Shadowsan looks at the cards Black Sheep offers up to show him, they brightly and colorfully say the simple word ‘UNO’ on the back and had various different colored fronts with multiple shapes and unique explanatory text.

Player’s voice emanated from the floating red drone idly hovering nearby, “It's a game that admittedly works best with more than three players.”

Zach laughed, “Well we’ve only got one ‘Player’ and it’s working out so far!”

It was such a  _ Zach  _ joke, using puns and purposeful misunderstanding as humor, that it momentarily stunned Shadowsan. It seemed that Zach had a developed sense of humor even at this tender young age, it certainly explained a lot of his young adult mannerisms.

Shadowsan nodded thoughtfully, “Well perhaps I can join in for a game after dinner, but Player would have to teach me the rules, as I have never played this game before.”

Black Sheep agreed eagerly, “Yay! Alrighty Shadowsan, what’s for dinner?”

“I’ve prepared a dish of lasagna.”

Ivy quirked an eyebrow, “A lasagna, like from scratch?”

“Indeed, that is the case.”

“Oh wow, fancy.” Ivy said sounding very impressed indeed, “Me and Zach have only ever had lasagna TV dinner style, this ought to be interesting.”

Indeed the children all enjoyed their lasagna with true gusto, Black Shhep and Zach chatting amicably amongst themselves and Player. They were clearly still enthused over topics pertaining to the zoo and their various impressions of various animals.

Ivy was, however, noticeably more reserved than either Zach or Black Sheep, but Zach didn’t seem too put out. Perhaps he was used to Ivy being the more ‘serious’ of the two of them.

It pained Shadowsan deeply that Ivy had felt the need to be the caretaker to her brother at such a young age, feeling the need to conceal him from what she felt were the worst aspects of their situations.

Zach still didn’t seem to realize that he wasn’t in Boston anymore, and Ivy seemed content to leave him in the dark for as long as possible.

After dinner Shadowsan did indeed try his best to learn the game of UNO, luckily for him it seemed the directions mostly contented themselves to be printed on the multicolored cards.

Shadowsan kept a lookout for whether Black Sheep would try to filch favorable cards or dispose of bad ones, but then remembered that she wouldn’t have learned card cheating techniques until she was older.

Really,  _ Zach _ was the one doing the most cheating, not-so-stealthily slipping cards underneath his folded legs, but Shadowsan figured he would let it slide.

After a fairly long card round, Zach finally was declared the winner and the kids cleaned back up all the cards and placed them in the pack.

It was getting late so Shadowsan directed the children to get ready for bed, and they put up minimal fuss as the zoo trip had tired them out.

Black Sheep was obviously wary of her nightmare returning but seemed comforted by Ivy’s reassurance that her and Zach weren’t bothered about being woken up in the middle of the night if it helped her.

Shadowsan put a comforting hand on Black Sheep’s shoulder, “Do not fret little Black Sheep, everyone has bad dreams now and again.”

Black Sheep cast her eyes up at Shadowsan, looking surprised she asked, “Everyone, even you Shadowsan?”

“Even me.” He assured, “The trick is to not let the bad dreams win, and focus on having good dreams instead.”

“Okay Shadowsan...I’ll try.”

Player helpfully dimmed the lights and projected a softly lit field of stars onto the ceiling above the couch, Shadowsan quietly pointed out some familiar constellations allowing his lecture to lull the children to sleep.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the first fully peaceful night sleep Player continues to excel in finding activities for the children and helping however he can. Shadowsan considers the vague possibility that Team Carmen just might stay kids permanently

When Shadowsan finds himself waking up in the morning, to the sound of the slight trill of Player’s red surveillance drone sounding a quiet wake-up alarm, he has a stunning realization.

_ Black Sheep had slept through the night _ , Shadowsan thought happily upon waking, and fully acknowledging and disarming the alarm.

_ She didn’t have a nightmare. _ Shadowsan thought,  _ or at least not a bad enough one to wake her. _ Shadowsan resolved to ask Black Sheep how she slept when he woke the children for breakfast.

Looking over at the still slumbering children, Shadowsan just had to smile a little, they looked positively angelic, peaceful. That certainly pleased Shadowsan’s protective instincts. They deserved sweet dreams.

Shadowsan whispered to Player, “Let them sleep a bit longer while I go make breakfast.” The hovering drone mimed a nod in the air, and went to go back onto it’s charging dock on the top shelf where it could continue to surveil the whole room.

Once in the kitchen, Shadowsan set up the laptop to video call Player. The boy was in his usual element, somehow juggling his focus between multiple monitors, all while clattering away on his keyboard.

Player shifted his full focus to the video chat long enough to greet Shadowsan, “Good morning, according to my drone’s activity report, last night proved uneventful?”

He worried over the kids well being alongside Shadowsan, but at a vast physical remove, Player felt there wasn’t much he could do to help Shadowsan directly. However, he certainly could help in all things covered under the realm of remote monitoring and technology.

“Yes indeed,” Shadowsan confirmed, “It seems that all the children had a peaceful slumber.”

“News on the VILE front,” Player said bringing up a few images up onto the screen for Shadowsan to see, “Some operative called ‘Roundabout’, from what I gather they’re not happy.”

“Ah yes, he must be the operative that VILE has selected as the new member of the Facility. He is probably very disappointed that VILE doesn’t have its private island headquarters anymore.” 

It’s hard not to feel a little smug about costing VILE so dearly, Shadowsan had spent many a day wondering what could possibly take down VILE island.

Little did Shadowsan suspect that  ** _he_ ** would be a part of a successful strike against such formidable opponents. Though he certainly couldn’t afford to get complacent.

He’d underestimated VILE during the last mission, and now all of Team Carmen were children.

Player nods, “Okay, so Roundabout is apparently keeping tabs on ACME, though it doesn’t go into specifics,” Player pulled his hands back from his keyboard and rolled his wrists, “I suspect he’s the one that tipped VILE about our snooping around the African Diamond Caper. Probably monitoring international police channels—  _ hacking maybe? _ ”

“Roundabout isn’t a hacker, he’s a higher up in the British government—his keeping tabs on international intelligence probably looks to be entirely above board to the outside observer.”

“Bah,” Player grouses, “ACME messed up calling in local cops, a call like that was bound to raise some red flags to even casual monitoring. They should have just sent their agents—“ 

Player shook his head, and resumed typing before picking back up his train of thought, “Assuming, of course, that  ** _all_ ** their agents are competent and trustworthy…  _ which is a big ask _ . I’m  ** _still_ ** not sure how they think Detective Chase Devineaux is secret agent material when he wasn’t really all that stellar at INTERPOL.”

Shadowsan, who had long since busied himself with the breakfast preparation found himself mostly responding with thoughtful noises of agreement to make sure Player knew he was still listening.

He finally plated the scrambled eggs mixed with bacon bits and sausage, paired with glasses of 2% milk and a banana each.

“On the Dr. Bellum front, we have more recoveries hinted at— again she seems adamant that a  _ direct hit _ will prove permanent.”

Shadowsan scowled, “She is very stubborn in her own way. Even though the de-aging ray has clearly not worked to her specifications so far, what with the area of effect being all the operatives in the VIlE hideout, she can still hold onto her belief in her plan’s success.”

“Yeah, I kind of got that vibe.” Player agreed, “A bridge we’ll cross if it gets to that I suppose.”

Just Player and himself, the sole defenders of three children, while in the metaphorical crosshairs of INTERPOL, ACME, and VILE.

“Indeed.” Shadowsan left it at that, and went to rouse the kids for breakfast.

They got up with some reluctance, still wiping sleep from their eyes, but overall they seemed to still be in good spirits from the zoo trip yesterday.

“How did you all sleep last night,” Shadowsan inquired, “no nightmares I trust?”

Black Sheep shook her head, “No nightmares, had a weird dream about water balloons though!”

Ivy leaned in, “Oh,  _ water balloons,  _ those are wicked fun—That and water pistol fights!”

Zack perked up excitedly at that, “Yeah, those are loads of fun!”

Black Sheep wrinkled her nose, “What’s a water pistol?”

  
  


* * *

  
  


After some baffled explanations from Ivy, Zack, and Player as to water pistols and the games that involved them, Player arranged for three water pistols and a case of water balloons to be delivered at one of the delivery drop-points.

They busied the children with some morning cartoons as they waited for the arrival of the packages.

Once the children were suitably distracted, Player and Shadowsan picked up a thread of conversation.

Player mused aloud, “I’m actually more surprised there’s not any big water pistols with the pool toys...I mean, we have the little squirt guns, but not the full-on super soakers.”

Shadowsan made a neutral noise, “I believe I remember the pool toys being ordered in a bundle... Perhaps that’s why?”

“Yeah probably. Stocking up on games and such not exactly being the top of the priority list in setting up the HQ…  _ the various gaming consoles aside. _ ”

“I certainly understand the hand-held gaming gadgets, the team certainly spends an unusual amount of time traveling on planes. It’s good to have something to amuse them.”

“I’ve joked before, with Carmen—when Zach and Ivy were being unusually rowdy and bickering... about whether she’d made up her mind on if she should throw them off the plane— you know what she said?”

“Something fittingly humorous, I’m sure.”

“She joked that their antics were ‘in-flight entertainment’...man, I know they’re right here and all, but  _ I really miss the team. _ ”

“I know what you mean.” Shadowsan said nodding, “They are both here, and not here. However, until such a time of their  _ return _ , I am choosing to try to focus only on the challenges of the now.”

“Enough to worry about as is, eh?” Player laughs, “Yeah I get you— Oh hey, the packages have been delivered!”

“Very good, thank you Player.”

“That’s not all,” Player put up a map of the local area up onto the laptop screen, “There’s a nice local park nearby which would be pretty ideal for a water fight—just gotta make sure you pick up the balloon fragments afterwards.”

“Again, your foresight in the planning of these outings continues to astound. I was just wondering about what would be an appropriate venue for the activity.”

Player shrugs, “What can I say, it pays to think a couple steps ahead and all that.”

Shadowsan quietly slipped out of headquarters, trusting Player to monitor them while he went to secure the packages, but they maintained contact with Shadowsan’s communicator.

“I suppose you’ve already accessed the park’s camera security system.”

“That— and their: live weather web-cam feed, motion activated nocturnal wildlife monitoring system,  _ and  _ of course I’ll scramble the drone.”

“Impressive.” Shadowsan complements, “Truly, a feat that would surely rival the best of VILE’s infiltrations.”

Player laughed, “Don’t be  _ too _ impressed with me, the systems’ username and password were set to USER and LOGIN, respectively. As a White Hat hacker I’m going to be informing the admins of the system—after we’ve finished utilizing it of course.”

“Did you inform the zoo of their system’s weak points?”

“Yeah, but only after scrubbing any feed of you guys and replacing it with old footage looped from previous days.”

Shadowsan collected up the packages and headed back to the former warehouse turned headquarters. “So you make your job harder as you go along?”

“Psh, I mean yeah I suppose— but the whole point of White Hat Hacking is to test and make sure security systems don’t have weak points. Help keep the nefarious hackers at bay. I’d be more disappointed if my job  ** _didn’t_ ** get more difficult the second time I attempted to breach a security system.”

“Quite the work ethic.” Shadowsan said smiling slightly, “If VILE had even one recruit as capable and determined as you, they might still possess their island headquarters.”

“Let’s hope for our sake that VILE doesn’t branch out into cyber crime. Dr. Bellum’s technology is more than enough of a problem as is!”

Shadowsan slipped back into the headquarters, the children had not even noticed his brief absence, happily absorbed into their cartoon program.

When the show they were currently wrapped up in finished, Shadowsan announced the arrival of the water pistols and balloons, along with the trip to the park.

From their excited reactions, one would have thought Shadowsan had offered them all the candy they could eat.

* * *

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids journey to a park, much water fight fun to be had for all.

After packing up a large food cooler and a picnic basket, Shadowsan got all the supplies, making sure to include the pool towels among them, in the car. The kids all changed into bathing suits under their clothing and then eagerly piled into their car seats.

They excitedly chatted all through the short drive, thoroughly looking forward to their day out at the park.

When they arrived it was almost all Shadowsan could do to keep the kids from bolting off out of sight.

With help from Player’s surveillance they easily found a remote area near a solitary picnic table. It almost seemed odd how empty the park was, but it was early morning. Also, now that Shadowsan thought about it, it was  _ probably  _ a school day.

Shadowsan reflected that he didn’t really have much knowledge of when the school holidays fell. 

Shaking off the errant thought, Shadowsan went about setting up several piles of water balloons around the area of designated play. 

The plan was: the kids would start off on their own corner of the triangle and would work their way towards the picnic table— ideally keeping within Shadowsan’s eye sight the whole time.

Though Shadowsan did have the reassurance that Player would keep an eagle-eye from his many vantage points and keep him apprised of any mishaps.

Once the children all picked a corner, Shadowsan stood on top of the picnic table and sounded off a loud wolf-whistle signaling the start of the battle.

The kids charged towards each other, balloons in hand.

Black Sheep was clearly in her element, though by Shadowsan’s reckoning she had been a bit older when she started her Cookie Booker based water attacks.

Come to think about it, Shadowsan wasn’t entirely sure whomst among the VILE faculty  _ supplied  _ Black Sheep with water balloons in the first place— though he suspected it might have been Coach Brunt, who often used similar ordinance in her “Projectile Weapons Handling Course”.

Zack alternated his attack efforts between Ivy and Black Sheep, and even lobbed a playful wife toss towards Shadowsan. It went wide, but some of the water did succeed in splashing his legs.

Shadowsan quirked an amused eyebrow when the kids all laughed at his obvious consternation.

Ivy at one point teamed up with Black Sheep to throw the balloons at Zack, to which he cried out, “No fair, two against one?!”

Zack cast a pleading gaze towards Shadowsan… and that’s when he decided to join in the fun.

Leaping effortlessly down from where he stood on the table Shadowsan bounded to the nearest pile of water balloons and threw two at quick succession. 

Not wishing to hit the girls directly he aimed at the ground right at both of the girls feet.

The girls squealed in surprise as the balloons hit near them, catching them both in their spray. 

Zack laughed at this latest development and cheered, “Alright, now we’re talkin’!”

They all chased each other in circles around the picnic table area, water balloons flying. Until finally the last of the balloons lie broken on the grass.

Shadowsan directed the children to help him collect up the scraps of the balloons from the ground, “Littering is bad for the environment,” he explained, “This plastic could be mistaken as food by an unsuspecting animal, and if they eat any of it they would get very sick indeed.”

The children all nodded, understanding the importance of their task they all dutifully went about collecting all the loose plastic. 

Then Shadowsan gathered the pieces, and on being informed by Player that the plastic was indeed of the recyclable variety he placed the scraps in a nearby recycling bin.

It was still some time before lunch, so the kids picked up their water pistols and resumed their water war, Shadowsan artfully dodging between the children, playing the role of referee, and occasionally becoming _a_ _challenging target._

Eventually, after refilling each of the pistols from a nearby tap, multiple times, lunchtime finally brought a pause to the hectic play of the morning.

They all gathered around the picnic table, wrapping themselves up in their pool towels to help themselves dry. 

Once they were all comfortably situated, they proceeded to tuck into the two containers of food that Shadowsan had packed.

Inside the picnic basket there was all the fixings to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, as Shadowsan hadn’t wanted the breath get soggy by making the sandwiches beforehand. Inside the cooler was chilled lemonade and water alongside two side dishes of macaroni salad and mashed potatoes.

The kids happily ate, chatting cheerfully amongst themselves, Shadowsan even set up the laptop so that Player could more easily join in on the fun.

Player showed them a video of some of the water fight highlights that he’d somehow found time to edit and compile into a video, probably during their short downtime of sandwich assembly.

The kids all laughed happily at the compilation of the best splashes, culminating in a clip of the moment when the children had realized they were down to their last balloons and had decided, seemingly in unison, to focus those at Shadowsan in a sudden ‘adults vs kids’ quick fire round.

Shadowsan found that he couldn’t really help the soft smile that crossed his face, the children’s laughter had wormed its way past his usual stoic facade. 

Once lunch was finished, there was a bit of a challenge coming up with the next activity. None of the kids had any solid idea of what they wanted to do next, and Shadowsan found himself yet again consulting Player for his ideas.

Players fingers flew over the keyboard in a veritable blur, “I suppose it depends on how much energy you all have left, plus the kids’ nap time is in two hours from now so I’ve got to factor that in as well.”

Shadowsan evaluated the kids, they seemed to be doing just fine even after playing for hours. Though he suspected their energy would start to flag as naptime approached.

He hummed thoughtfully, “Indeed, a low impact activity to help to cool-down would probably be best.”

Player nodded, “There’s a few entertainment venues: movie theaters, various sport rinks;  _ bowling, rollerblading and ice skating that sort of thing, _ and uh—I suppose this looks promising… there’s an arcade nearby and it’s online reviews look pretty good?”

Shadowsan nodded and addressed the children “What do you kids think about going to an arcade—“ Shadowsan paused realizing Black Sheep probably had no context for the word ‘arcade’, “a gaming venue? To play some cabinet games?”

The children cheered happily, and after helping gather up the picnic supplies, and disposing of their rubbish into the proper waste receptacles, they all piled back into the car, eager to head to the arcade.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fun and games at the arcade!

The arcade isn’t terribly busy, much like with the park Shadowsan suspected it was to do with most children being in school. 

There was a few families with kids around the same age as the team and a few young adults milling about the various arcade cabinets.

Shadowsan ascertained that this style of arcade relied on a card to activate games and keep track of points that could be redeemed for prizes.

The prizes seemed to be exorbitantly ‘priced’, thousands of points for even the smallest trinkets, Shadowsan suspected that was to encourage multiple visits to the gaming venue.

Team Carmen seemed well taken with the lights and sounds of the various games, and were obviously eager to begin taking part.

Shadowsan purchased three game cards, and reminded the kids to remain inside of the arcade, preferably within eyesight of himself.

Player had of course tapped into the surveillance cameras, both inside the arcade and out in the parking lot; the red drone was also floating somewhere around the facility, doing its best to cover the blind spots.

The children took to the far wall of the arcade, which was lined with carnival-style games of skill: 

One involving a multiple lane basketball simulacrum, one where a ball was rolled up a ramp in the hopes of launching it into several nested point circles of incremental difficulty, and a sort of shooting gallery armed with water pistols.

Shadowsan felt very much out of his element, not having a lot of experience with such venues in his youth, but the children all took to playing with gusto.

They competed with each other in the various games of skill, all gleefully cheering whomever happened to win—good sportsmanship all around. The idea was that they planned to pool all their points when they had to leave, hopeful they could net enough to get one of the more substantial prizes.

Though Shadowsan noted that the points awarded per play, even with the games most skillfully played, was a mere pittance in the face of the exorbitant numbers assigned to the prizes.

He noted this to Player, who scoffed, “Yeah they run a bit of a racket with that don’t they? I could always hack their system to juice up the point total to something more reasonable.”

“Does that sort of subterfuge fall under the White Hat Hacker code?” Shadowsan found himself teasing, “Not that I don’t appreciate the offer.”

“Hey, they fleeced their customers first, I’m just leveling the playing field.” Player laughed and Shadowsan could hear the him clattering away at hiskeyboard, “An arcade shouldn’t favor the house more than a casino, I mean really.”

Shadowsan quirked a smile at Player’s tone of faux scorn, largely because he certainly agreed with the sentiment. “Yes, that does make sense.” He replied into the earpiece, “Plus it would be nice for the children to win a decent prize for all the effort their putting in.”

Indeed Black Sheep, Zack, and Ivy were making short work of the various games of skill, obviously taking great pleasure in their high scores and gleefully discussing what sort of prize they hoped to win.

After a solid hour and a half of play Shadowsan wrangled the children towards the prize desk to tally up their collective points. The employee at the counter seemed surprised, but not overly suspicious of their point total.

They were pointed towards the prize shelves and the kids debated the various merits of the prizes they could obtain.

As the kids were picking their prize Shadowsan pondered over what to serve for dinner, and coordinated with Player to have the supplies he needed to make what he planned delivered to one of the drop points that would be on their way to the headquarters.

Eventually they settled on a large, cushy, and very colorful tie-dye bean bag chair, which they all agreed was ‘pretty awesome’. 

Shadowsan helped them load the large chair into the trunk of the car, and then set about the journey back to the headquarters.

Player once again thoughtfully routed GPS instructions into his ear piece as the kids predictably began to doze off during the car ride.

Only pausing when Shadowsan made a brief pit stop at the delivery drop point to pick up his needed food supplies.

Tonight he planned to make burritos, and he’d needed to acquire tortillas and various other side ingredients.

Once it was all collected Shadowsan continued the nearly silent journey back to headquarters, with the sleeping children none the wiser as to his pit stop.

* * *

  
  
  
They arrived at the headquarters and Shadowsan set about carrying the slumbering children inside to continue their nap.

By Player’s reckoning they would be asleep for another hour and a half. So Shadowsan took the time to quietly clean and put away the various supplies that had been brought to the park.

He also took off the cover of the bean bag chair and washed it out in the sink before running it in the dryer, heaven only knew how many people had handled it before they had acquired it. 

Shadowsan wanted to make sure it was clean before it was probably integrated as a piece of furniture.

Even after he completed all of that, he found himself with an hour still left until the children’s naptime was over.

He retreated to his room and set up the laptop to video call Player.

Player was taking a rare break from monitoring his various screens, trusting his algorithms to keep tabs on whatever projects he had running currently. 

Though he had the video stream of the common room up on a small window on the laptop screen so both he and Shadowsan could still keep watch over them.

Shadowsan settled into his seat across from the laptop and aloud himself a contented sigh, “Today was very eventful,” he commented easily, “keeping three children entertained is certainly no easy feat.”

“Totally,” Player agreed, “I’m almost worn out just watching you all.” His tone was light and easy, “I can only imagine what it’s like on your end—I get to do all my work from the comfort of my room.”

“That doesn’t make your work any less important,” Shadowsan replied easily, “I shudder to think what I would have done without your aid in this matter.”

Player shrugged, blushing slightly, “I’m sure you would have managed somehow. Remember I’ve seen you handle solo missions before, I know you’ve got serious skills.”

“They weren’t entirely ‘solo missions’, you were instrumental as the technical helmsman and coordinator on those missions.”

“So we’re both awesome,” Player said cheerfully, waiving off the praise, “and we work well as a team.”

Shadowsan nodded, “Yes, and I am grateful that you were able to overlook my initial off-handed dismissal of your place on the team.”

“Meh, I’m used to being underestimated—actually suits me just fine, nobody would ever suspect that I’m the hacker behind the curtain. Man, if only VILE knew that Team Carmen was being managed by a kid this whole time.”

“They certainly never suspected anything of the sort while I was still a member of the faculty. They thought—and perhaps still think that Carmen is working with ACME.”

“That makes sense I guess, Carmen has teamed up with Agent Julia Argent before… and ACME would be a convenient explanation for all the resources that Carmen has.”

“Yes and it’s best that VILE carry on with their misconception, the more allies that VILE believe we have, the better.”

“True that.” Player glanced over at the video feed of the children, “Oh hey the kids are beginning to stir, looks like naptime is wrapping up.”

Shadowsan evaluated the video screen, and verified that the children seemed to be waking up of their own volition. “Thank you Player, I’ll go get them to clean up themselves while I go change out the bed sheets. Will you pick out some light entertainment to keep the kids occupied until dinner?”

“Sure thing.”

“Thank you Player.”

With that, Shadowsan signed off the video call and went to tell the kids to take baths to clean off from the days’ grime.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Being quarantined is doing wonders for my writing, I’ve got to say.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lots of fun activities!

The children all went about cleaning themselves and Shadowsan took the opportunity to do the same. He found himself wondering just  _ how _ grass had managed to stain their clothing and skin with such unfortunate efficacy.

Oh well, modern detergent and soap would certainly help deal with that small issue. Shadowsan finished cleaning and went back into the common room and changed the sheets of the pullout couch.

Once finished, Shadowsan retreated to his room, the surveillance drone camera stayed behind in the common room.

Player’s voice rang out cheerfully from Shadowsan’s laptop, “I’ve got a few possibilities for movies, quite a few child’s shows— quite frankly there’s more children’s media out there then can be watched in a person’s lifetime.”

“I would imagine so, I trust you can narrow the choices down to suit the children’s particular tastes.”

“Hmmm,” Player hummed neutrally, “yeah, it’s just so strange being the arbiter of entertainment, the team usually only had the one ‘movie night’ a month, and they took turns choosing…” 

Player sighed deeply, “The team’s downtime was largely the traveling in-between missions—they entertained themselves for the most part.”

Shadowsan nodded solemnly, “It is strange what little things will remind one of the abrupt change in status quo, I only just realized that I’ve managed to fully recover from being jet-lagged from...that mission.”

“Man, that mission feels like it was both yesterday and like  _ forever ago _ at the same time.” Player commented, his voice sounding wistful, “Probably just the stress from the  _ strangeness  _ of it all—oh” 

Player paused abruptly, interrupting his train of thought because of an alert sounding on one of his monitors, “Hey, Ivy is back in the common room, I guess I’ll ask her what sort of show she’s in the mood for, would help me narrow it down.”

Shadowsan walked back into the common room to find Ivy talking to the floating surveillance drone, “I dunno about what I want to watch, I kinda want to play a game?”

Zack entered the room, his stuffed toy car in tow, “It’d be neat if we could play a racing game!”

The drone hovered over to the game shelves, “We’ve got a few video games, there’s a fun go kart one that’s pretty easy to learn to play.”

Black Sheep skipped happily into the common room, “Ooh what are we playing?”

So that’s how the children settled on playing a few rounds of a video game called ‘Mario Kart 8’. Player joined the game remotely, and they even managed to wrangle Shadowsan to join in.

The kids seemed thrilled with the opening graphics, remarking that it was a more impressive looking game than they’d ever seen before.

Zack played as Young Link, Ivy played as Donkey Kong, Player chose to play as Luigi, and Black Sheep gleefully picked a character called Dry Bones because he was ‘a funny skeleton’.

Not really having any preference in the matter Shadowsan told Player to pick a character for him, and he wound up playing as Toad.

Player was of course at an unfair advantage, so he purposely chose not to use any of the in game items to try to level the playing field.

Zack turned out to be a bit of a natural, which made sense to Shadowsan given his love of cars that was evident even in his adult self.

Ivy was having a blast, cackling like a little helion whenever she passed, sideswiped, or hit an opponent with one of her items.

Black Sheep wasn’t familiar with video games, which placed her at about the same ranking as Shadowsan, which she wasn’t upset about, she largely focused on having fun and managed not to ever finish last.

Player confirmed over the earpiece to Shadowsan, “It’s on easy mode, so that the A.I —artificial intelligence, the characters controlled by the computer, are going to go slower and make more mistakes. It’s more fun for the kids.”

Shadowsan nodded almost imperceptibly, sure that Player could pick up the motion with the red drone’s camera.

Ivy picked up an item box that gave her three red shells that circled her character, “Ahahaha—Jackpot!” She cheered, and quickly used them to take out the three racers in front of her.

Zack whined plaintively, “How come Ivy gets such good items?”

Player supplied the answer, “The game gives better items the further back you are, why else would the person in last place get the blue shell?”

Black Sheep nodded, “That makes sense, it makes sure everybody playing can have fun, even if they’re not racing well.”

Zack shrugged, “Yeah, I guess.” He agreed reluctantly, “Would be interesting to see how well we could race without any items.” Zach leaned back, face considering, “Though Player isn’t using any and he’s always top three.”

“I’ve got great video game reflexes,” Player explained, “Not to mention years of experience. I’m not using items to help level the playing field.”

Zack nodded, “Well don’t get too comfortable, I’m coming to catch up to you!”

_ Little does Zack know,  _ Shadowsan thought,  _ he’s a racer and the team’s get-away driver. I wonder what young Zack would make of the fact that even with his future experience, Player was still routinely the best of the whole team at video games. _

The game continued on for several rounds, and the kids all had a good time just playing even if they didn’t always win. 

Soon enough the time came for dinner, and the children reluctantly put down their game controllers to all gather around the dining table.

Black Sheep gazed up plaintively at Shadowsan, “Can we keep playing after dinner Shadowsan?”

Ivy and Zack both offered their own tentative pleading looks to that question, and Shadowsan nodded and said, “I suppose a few more rounds after dinner would be alright.”

The kids then eagerly tucked into their burritos, polishing off their meal with an almost ruthless efficiency.

Zack finished first, but waited at the table for his sister and Black Sheep to finish eating before they all helped place their plates in the washer. Then they then scurried off to continue playing their game.

After several more rounds the kids energy was clearly beginning to wane, Shadowsan gently encouraged them to wrap up their play. Shadowsan told them to prepare for bed and brush their teeth.

Black Sheep looked like she still very much wanted to continue playing, but it was just as evident that she really didn’t have all that much energy left to argue the point.

Shadowsan just assured, “We can play again some other time, now though it’s time to go to sleep.”

The children all nodded, and went about their bedtime preparations.

Player chimed into Shadowsan’s earpeice, “I know they did a lot today, but they seem more lethargic than I would expect. I hope they’re okay, and this isn’t some sort of late effect of the ray.”

Shadowsan nodded, “This is the most activity that they’ve had thus far, it is understandable that they would be tired.”

“Yeah, I suppose I don’t have any room to talk, seeing as how the most exercise I get is when I take my stretch breaks.”

“You mean you actually  _ do _ take breaks from your computer’s?” Shadowsan teased mildly, “Color me surprised.”

“Har har.” Player dryly rejoined, “We can’t all be ninjas.”

“Indeed not.” Shadowsan agreed, smiling slightly.

The children all returned to the common room in due course and set themselves upon the couch bed. Shadowsan briefly wondering whether Black Sheep could manage the night without him now that she had much stronger bonds with Ivy and Zack.

He didn’t ask however, not wanting to stress her with a change of the status quo, and so he took his place at the far end of the couch.

Only allowing himself to drift off once all the children were clearly deep asleep.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The de-kidification

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m finally out of the weird depressive writer funk. Probably because the NEW SEASON finally has been announced for October 1rst!!!

_ Strange, really how symmetrical it all was. It started with fatigue and a dramatic change, so it actually seemed fitting that a great fatigue would appear at the end of it all. _

_ Then a glow, and everything shifts. _

_ Then, there they all are. Team Carmen restored to their rightful ages, still fast asleep as if nothing of great note had occurred. _

_ It was an odd sensation _ , Shadowsan would reflect later,  _ to lose...even as you were gaining. _

Hadn’t he been expecting for this—  ** _hoping_ ** for this very result all the while Team Carmen had been unwittingly kid-ified?

Shouldn’t he be happier? Certainly the joy in seeing Carmen, Ivy, and Zack restored to their rightful ages should be a welcome and easy relief.

However, there’s a large tug of regret in the loss of the children...even though they’d not  _ really  _ gone anywhere. They were grown, back to the age they belonged at, almost like Dr. Bellum’s ray never happened.

The clothes they had been wearing as kids had sized up with them somehow. Shadowsan wasn’t going to pretend he understood the mechanics of exactly  _ how _ that worked, but he certainly wasn’t going to complain. 

Now Shadowsan just stood silently next to the couch bed, waiting for his erstwhile charges to wake from their transformation induced slumber.

It was still really dark outside, so Shadowsan could only see with what little moonlight permiated past the nearly opaque privacy filters of the former warehouse windows.

That certainly added to the surreal atmosphere.

Player, who really ought to still be asleep due to the lateness of the hour, was called upon nonetheless.

Shadowsan couldn’t just leave Player out of this latest development...it was too important...too momentous.

“It’s like these last few days were a really vivid dream.” Player said. 

There was some considerable shuffling on the other end of the line, it sounded like Player getting up from bed so he could go look at his bevy of monitors. 

Shadowsan only hummed in acknowledgment, and Player’s end of the call filled with the familiar cacophony of keyboard clicks, Player continued his train of thought, “What’s that old saying?” Player asked rhetorically, “May you live in interesting times?”

Based on Player’s thready—excited tone, he was of the same sort of mixed emotions as Shadowsan, though his trended more towards the joy and relief over the mild pangs of confusing loss.

Shadowsan watched the sleeping team from the farthest corner of the room, so he could monitor without potentially waking them too early.

He doubted that even Dr. Bellum knew just how much sleep one would need to properly recover from two full body transformations in only a matter of days.

“Earth to Shadowsan?”

Shadowsan had been adrift in his own thoughts, Player’s idle chatter had faded into white noise without him even realizing.

“My apologies Player, my mind is… many places. What were you saying?”

“I  _ was _ updating you on what diagnostics the drone can gather. Y’know; thermal imaging scan, heart rate, and Rapid Eye Movement monitoring...etc.” Player yawned, “All looks good and within normal limits... Well, I mean, if you could apply the word  ** _‘normal’_ ** to  _ any _ part of being turned into a kid and back by a mad-science ray.”

“Indeed.” Shadowsan agreed, “Thank you for the update. I apologize I wasn’t really paying attention before, I partly blame the surrealness of the circumstances and the lateness of the hour.”

“Well I can let it slide this time,” Player jokes, “Also I would define 3 AM as early and not late, but I suppose it’s a matter of perspective.”

“Indeed, I would apologize for waking you so early—”

“You kidding? This is too important to **_not_** wake me up for… also it’s 3 AM— _for you guys. _It’s 6 AM in Ontario. I’ve just never been much of a morning person.”

“Ah, yes. I sometimes forget the time difference. What time do you normally wake?”

“Meh, most days it’s probably around 9 to 10AM?”

“That seems rather late in the day...to me at any rate,” Shadowsan casually commented, “At VILE morning bell was at 5 AM every morning.

“Well, since I’m homeschooled online and generally allowed to plan my own hours to an extent, I sometimes stay up until 1 AM. I don’t really have a bedtime.”

Shadowsan could hear Player shrug, “Plus, you got to account for the fact that you lot are real globetrotters and synchronizing my chats with your various different missions in different time zones leads to really strange hours on my end.”

“Indeed.” Shadowsan said, “You do make a lot of concessions for the team, and I am exceedingly grateful.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Player sounded almost sheepish at the praise, “I’m sure I’ll get my  _ ‘World’s Greatest White Hat Hacker’ _ mug in the mail any day now, just glad I was able to help.”

Shadowsan wondered if there was a way of procuring such a mug, and if there were if there was any possible way of ordering such a thing without Player catching wind of it… probably not, but it would certainly be interesting to try.

For now at least that thought had to go on the proverbial back burner, because over on the couch—  
  
There was a yawn... and then—

Carmen  _ woke _ .

  
  



	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We’ve finally reached the end!

Carmen sits bolt upright, suddenly very awake. The suddenness of her movement managing to startle both Zach and Ivy into falling off the couch bed in dazed confusion.

There’s a few moments of everybody attempting to talk over one another, before Shadowsan grabs all of their attention with a sharp wolf whistle.

That startled everyone into looking sharply over to where Shadowsan stood as a hush fell over the room.

“Everyone!” Shadowsan admonished, but not harshly, “Allow me a moment to explain.” Shadowsan collected himself as he tried to contemplate how to brief Carmen, Ivy, and Zach about everything that had happened over the past few days.

“Dr. Bellum zapped you all with a ray that de-aged you to about five years of age. This also affected various different VILE agents in the warehouse, which helped us when we made our escape.”

Carmen laughed, “Leave it to Dr. Bellum to have a crazy science ray go haywire and have unexpected side affects, I guess. How long were we kids for?”

“You were all like that for a few days, and you’ve only just now have reverted to your rightful ages.”

Player helpfully cut in. “I have a slide show.” He said cheerily, as the projector on the drone fires to life and starts to cycle through the various pictures Player had taken over the past week.

Carmen spoke first, “Wow, this is… a lot to take in.”

Ivy tilted her head, “I think I sorta remember this?” She says in reference to the zoo pictures! “Definitely ringing some faint bells. Something about a weird foster placement, but it’s all muddy.”

Zach nodded, “It’s like it got lumped in with my memories of actually being a kid? I’ll be honest, I don’t have many memories from before about mid-elementary.”

Ivy hums in agreement, “About the same for me too, though I definitely remember something along the lines of wondering why two kids from Boston got relocated to San Diego.”

Carmen smiled, “I was just so thrilled to be off the island for the first time, that it didn’t seem to matter  _ where _ exactly I was.” She seemed to contemplate this, “I seem to remember wondering how Shadowsan got so old all of the sudden though.”

Shadowsan chuckled, “Yes, I certainly remember that. I had told you that there was a mishap with a ray made by Dr. Bellum that affected age.”

“Ah, and I took that to mean the ray made you older, rather than made me and my friends younger. Clever, I have got to say.”

Player remotely switched the projection on the wall so that they could all see him in his room as the slideshow finally wrapped up. “That’s all the pictures, I have some surveillance video of the pool party and the zoo that I can forward you guys later, but you get the gist.”

Ivy let out an impressed whistle, “Very impressive Shadowsan, must have been  _ something else  _ wrangling three kids. How did you even manage?” 

Shadowsan indicated Player’s projected image with a sweep of his hand, “Player provided invaluable help, as always. He ordered the needed supplies, provided remote surveillance, and suggested quite a few of the diverting activities to help keep you all occupied.”

Player shrugged, “Least I could do,” he said, blush starting to bloom across his sheepish face, “just glad I could help.”

Team Carmen all smiled brightly, each taking turns thanking Player for all his help as he smiled bashfully under all the attention.

Zach chuckled, “Must have been funny to be one of the oldest members of the team for a change.”

Player laughed, “Oh, you have no idea. Definitely had a bit of a ‘Twilight Zone’ undercurrent to it. I’m honestly really glad to be the youngest on Team Carmen again, less pressure.”

Ivy snorted, “Yeah I bet,” she glanced ruefully at her clothing, a pink unicorn pajama set, which she was sure had thrilled five year-old her, “I’m going to go change, pink is definitely not my color.”

Zach observed his own clothes, which were racetrack themed pajamas, “Nice, did you pick these out for me Player?”

“Yup, I ordered supplies based on a rough guess as to what your kid selves might like, with the plan to donate the clothes and such when the effects of the ray finally manage to wear off.”

Zach smiled, “That’s cool, I’m going to my room to help get my kid stuff.” With that, Zach shuffled off to his room.

Carmen nodded approvingly at her own red heart pajamas, “Nice idea, I’ll help collect all the kid supplies so we can donate them… what time is it?”

“3:47 AM.” Player answers cheerily, “For you guys anyway, for me it’s 6:47 AM, good morning.”

“I’d wondered why it seemed dark outside,” Carmen said sounding amused, “well that’s fine, I’ll collect the clothes and have them ready to donate for later today. Anything else on the docket for today?”

Player shrugged, “Still trying to circumvent VILE’s new encoding methods— methinks they’ve definitely caught on that they’re being covertly surveilled… but I think I’ll crack it soonish. In the meantime I think you all should take it easy, just in case the ray has any lingering malaise type effects.”

Carmen nods, “Okay, then crack on Player. I have every faith that you’ll solve whatever barriers VILE can throw your way.” Carmen yawns, “Definitely looks like I’ve a bit of fatigue still clinging, though considering I just grew like three feet or so in like a minute... it’s a rather reasonable side effect.”

Shadowsan smiled slightly, “You should rest if your body calls for it, I can just as easily collect all the supplies to donate without any problem.”

“Yeah I guess, I just feel a bit guilty that you and Player have had to do all the work for the past few days.”

“Hardly your fault,” Shadowsan reassures, “and it was not  _ all _ just work, believe it or not, I quite enjoyed the divergences away from VILE foiling. It is nice to have the occasional change of pace.”

Carmen raised an eyebrow, “Yeah because  _ that’s  _ how you would describe having to suddenly care for three kids unexpectedly— a  _ ‘change of pace.’ _ ”

Shadowsan shrugged, “Indeed, I will admit to the understatement. However it was no burden to care for you, Ivy, and Zach. I considered it nothing less than my duty… and a great honor.”

Carmen smiled warmly, going up on tip-toe to place a kiss on Shadowsan’s cheek, “Thank you, for everything Shadowsan.” She then blew a kiss to Player’s projected image, “You too Player, thank you for everything.”

As one, Shadowsan and Player responded, “You’re welcome.”

** _The End_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in time for season 3!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah I’ve been live writing this on the Discord for a while and I think I’m unfairly withholding the cuteness from the general public...so here ya go!


End file.
